Monster Eternal
by Ai-dame
Summary: Forced to live through this endless agony, unable to die...She was something far worse than a vampire. Perhaps if he'd known who...or WHAT she really was...he wouldn't have painted himself the monster...
1. Living for Death

I should have told him. Before he left. I think I should have told him. Let him know that my soul had already been damned. That he needn't worry about my soul at all. I could have been with him then, maybe. He might not have left me if he knew that I wasn't mortal to begin with. That I had never in my existence been a mortal.

To sit through school and get average grades, relearning things that I had myself lived through. Restraining myself from correcting the teacher when he got something wrong. It was history, he was the teacher and I the student. He should know better than me but he didn't it. It might have just been history to them, but it was MY history. I have been walking this earth for longer than time itself. I was there during every war, every battle, and every disease there ever was.

And when time moved on...

I would still be here.

Living through it all as my own curse, alone forever. Not technically living persay, not anymore if I ever have been. I am one of the 'originals' if you will. The first to be created, the first born to this world. I am the last left though I believe. The others, tired of their meaningless existance.

What was the point of living without hope.

Faith.

Trust.

Friendship.

Honor.

Loyalty.

What was the reason to exist if you could experience none of these things. The one no one ever dared wished for even after they broke down further than rock bottom.

_Love._

I had thought for a time that maybe I had been gifted to experience this forbidden word, only to be proven wrong. The others had been driven insane by their endless time. Not just centuries, but millenias, that we were forced to live through and endure. Eons of lonlely, ageless, perfection.

I can no longer remember how old I really am, or when I was born, or even where. I've no idea who my real parents could be. None of this mattered though. I had found a secret that the others missed. If you keep to yourself, you don't feel lonely, you don't feel hurt that everyone is passing you by. That when their time ends you will still be standing there with your clock forever frozen. Never to be buried and surrounded by crying loved ones.

It had been okay with me, I could control my appearence at will and enter a new family as I wished. My knowledge stayed with me forever. But, as I grew up with my new family I began to grow attached. I could see what it did to the others to drive them over the edge.

I thought by moving to a drab area like Forks would help me. My 'father' was often at work and it would give me space. I was wrong. In Forks, I fell in love.

I fell in pain.

I fell in hurt.

I fell in endless, writhing, agony.

Now, I could see what it meant to have your heart broken. Worse for me was how he had constantly brought up my mortality, how 'human' I supposedly was. As he left me in the woods, my mind screamed to tell him, tell him we could be together forever and time would not, could not, stop us. All I had to do was reach out and call him back to me and he would come running. Still, I did not call to him. I did not reach for him. That velvet voice echoed in my ears, you're not good enough for me...I don't love you. They spun over my head like a carousel of endless grief.

I would not age if I willed it so. The only reason I aged at all, was because of my powers. Powers only the originals had. The power to shapeshift. One of two, we all had been given. The other being able to block any and all powers some may posess, not just vampires. Back when we had begun, other races were thriving but I will not go into detail. They all had their own abilities and so our power was a defense mechanism against them to survive.

In truth, the only reason their physical powers worked on me was because I refused to eat anymore as I became more and more attached to the mortals. I could no longer end their lives so casually. Then, to meet a family who shared my views, though they didn't know it. I was certain fate had drawn us together.

Still, as a drawback, I was weakened and often clumsy, losing control of my body. It had proven to be an asset to prove how 'human' I was. And they bought it.

Everyone had.

Even THEM. I winced at how I had decieved them. How they had decieved ME. Tricking me into thinking they cared. That I would someday become apart of thier family. I had planned on _him_ biting me and pretending to suffer through the three days until I became a _vampire_. I could transform my appearence into something much more beautiful and feeding off blood was only a slightly more vulgar way of what I did.

I was the true monster on our supposed relationship. I fed off the lives of the living, sucking their time away bit by bit until I was sated. Living off their 'souls' rather than blood. Either way they died.

I had tried to starve myself but found people dropping dead around me regardless, my body functioning on its own accord to feed itself. I could not stand it and began to feed bit by bit, only taking a little time away from people. Hundreds of them to feel as full as I would if I drained three humans completely. Something I had refused to do for nearly 20 years. I may look 17 and in my immediate memory, I watched for years to pick my parents. When I started to like them from afar, was when I first stopped eating. Three years before they had their 'special night' and I happened.

Now though, my life had no meaning. I had given everything for HIM and it was thrown back in my face. Fate had always been cruel and twisted in that way.

Back in the town, every living person around was near death. Thousands of lives I had brought close to the edge of death only to stop short and make them suffer. Suffer like I had to. Wanting to die but unable. It was not what I had wanted. That was not what I had meant to do. But we, creatures, without perfect control, our bodies will take over and feed themsleves. With my emotions in a torrent, I lost control. I had even just barely managed to stop when they had all been at the brink of death.

I thought of suicide then.

It was impossible to kill an original though. We had a name too, like all other myths, but I had forgotten it quite some time ago.

I was strong again, beautiful, and for the first time in over 20 years...full. I glared up into the sky and I saw the purple haze of a gift. HER gift. Watching me. Tormenting me with her watching eyes. Why watch what you left behind?

I could fight now though. She would see no future at all. The longer she tried to watch the more she would go blind. If she was smart she would stop now and retain some of the 'sight'. Crimson eyes focused, and I watched the purple fade away. She had stopped, probably from the pain.

Faintly their was a rustling of feet and I turned slowly around. The only ones I could not kill stood there. My best friend stood next to the pack leader. He had refused to lead the pack as was his birthright. Ephram had been a great leader though, he had always made the right choice. The right decisions to keep his clan thriving for so long, so I did not contend with his decision. What he chose to do was his own choice, it worked for him anyways. If he took alpha now, it would rip the pack apart and they would be weak. They could not be weak in times like this.

They could not be weak today.

To be honest, it is not that I could not kill them, but I did not want to. The race of immortals was dwindling. I could not bring myself to harm any of them who might one day, bring in more of us. But, I would have to, I realized darkly.

They stood in their human form as I brought myself up from my seated position on the cliffs.

The pack growled as I stood up. "What are you Bella?" Sam asked. "If that's her real name," Paul snarled. I took this in stride though, they should hate me. Hate me with everything they had, with every fiber of their being they should want to rip me apart, molecule by molecule. If there was even an atom within them that did not despise me with every fiber in its being, they would not be able to do what I wanted. What I needed so badly.

To die.

To be killed.

I was asking for death now as I looked at them, contemplating on my decision for what I was about to do.

"I am nothing," I whispered but the wind carried my voice. It boomed on the cliffside and they were startled, gaping with eyes wide as they looked around. From the lives I had taken, the excess power rolled off of me in waves.

Soon they recollected themselves and just stared openly at me. "That was not nothing, what have you done to Forks?" Sam asked. "Yeah we'd like to know BEFORE we rip you to pieces," Paul chimed in again. "You won't kill me. You're not enough," I said quietly, egging them on. Paul growled and shivers ran up and down his spine. "Why don't you watch me you leeching bitch!" he roared and in a second, shredded clothes flew in the air as he sprang foward, everyone was too slow to stop him or they just didn't really want to try.

I grabbed him and sent him sprawling, my hand closing quickly over his throat. In wolf or human form, I held him still. "None of you are enough," I choked, "hate me with every fiber of your being, hate me with the passion you would reserve for your imprinted one, hate me with the strength of a million injustices and it will never be enough. I am one who has lived through a thousand lives, a million wars, hundreds of histories. They all hated us well enough. It was never enough to destroy us. In the end, those who wished it, killed themselves. Only another of us is strong enough to kill the other unless we let down our gaurd."

Sam stepped foward, the rest of the pack following with silent rumbles. Even Jake was growling. He could not forgive me if I killed his friend. No matter the volatile temper. I did not want his forgiveness. If anything I needed him to hate me too. It would make it easier to do what I was about to do. My hands clenched and I saw little water droplets speckle Paul's coat.

I was crying.

"Kill me," I whispered faintly, "please do your best to kill me, if you don't, I will never forgive myself. As it is, I will have to live with this for the rest of enternity," I trembled. "We won't kill you," I heard Jake grunt, "just let Paul go and we can let it go." I shook my head, "Jake, your ancestor, Ephram was a great man, I want you to know that. Even he, as calm, and fair, and strong as he was, would not forgive this. Would not forgive me after this," I whispered. I looked into Paul's eyes. I could see the hatred, the anger, and what crossed them at this moment, the single second my hand tightened on his wind pipe.

I saw the fear.

Then, there was the sickening crunch, and snap as I broke his windpipe in two, severing his spinal cord in half as well.

My hands trembled as I released him, limp body slumping to the ground, stuck as a wolf now, the injuries too severe to heal. I faced my punishment with a broken expression, hollowed eyes, and a quivering jaw.

Snarls ripped through the air...

* * *

"NO!" Jake yelled and I looked at him in wonder. How could he not want to kill me. I knew that open sided love was not true love and therefore he could not hold more affection towards me than his dead packmember. Not that I still believe in love though, it is a fairy tale meant for people with unrealistic ideals.

His pack turned on him like he was insane when he spoke again, leveling a cold gaze on me. I could just then as he uttered that one word he had stepped into his birthright. His right to lead hte pack and no longer follow. I could see it in the way he stood. I could hear it in the way he spoke. And I could feel it in the way he looked at me.

The pack could feel it too as they trembled by the force fo his order, legs buckling as they were forced to the ground in submission. The one that took the longest to fall was Sam, fighting it hard.

But he DID fall.

They all did.

I looked to him as he stepped foward, his shaking somehow eerily under control. I did not like it, I did not like this one bit. To do this, it could only mean he had thought of an even greater punishment.

"She will live," Jacob said solemnly and I heard the ripping sounds of protest beofre they were silenced as Jake continued. "She will live through the torment she has brought upon us, she will live through the pain of knowing she killed her own family, she will live through the agony of knowing the Cullen's didn't love her. SHe will live, through all the pain she ever cause for as long as I am standing."

I quivered as I stood there. No, no, no! They were supposed to kill me! Jake had realised though, as his ancestor probably would have, that the greatest punishment for one such as I, was making me LIVE through the pain I had brought on everyone, live through every single second of it for the rest of enternity.

I could kill him now and they would have no choice but I could see in Jacob's eyes he knew I would not do it and increase my suffering. I dropped, slumped and drained of energy. The pack could see it too, in my eyes they knew the truth. I would writhe in agony for every day I was forced to live through and have to suffer through each day. They could see now this truly was the greatest punishment they coudl give. I myself could not near it.

They hated me too much.

They hated me so much logic overcame emotions and they saw the true pain that awaited me.

Someone,

Anyone,

Please,

I'm begging,

Kill me now.

**A/N:** So I'm trying two versions of this kind of plot, the other is already up but I think I'm leaning more towards this one now, it's more realistic of the way Bella would feel. Tell me what you think of it please because I think I'm only going to continue whichever one wins out.


	2. Pain and Fantasies

**A/N: **Argh! C'mon people! 26 hits and only 4 reviews Y.Y As a treat coughbribecough here is the second chapter already finished - I need more reviews though peeps, at least 6 for this one if you please o

"Argh!" Alice screamed.

I was broken from reverie as she cired out in pain from upstairs. I had been thinking of Bella. My sweet, sweet, human, Bella. How close we had come to ending her life. Leaving her may have been for her own good but, it did no good for me. Nor for my family either.

The house was forever quiet with little to no talking. Even then it was only the bare minimum, and only when it was completely and absolutely necessary. Everyone had lost a piece of themselves the day we left. I myself had lost everything. Without Bella, there was no Edward, only an empty shell.

Still though, we were all spurred into action at the inhuman cry that came from Alice's room. She was second in her grief only to me. We avoided eachother as often as we could, I could not listen to the thoughts she threw at me whenever I was near, or even just simple memories she had with Bella when I was neve rthere. It reminded me painfully of what we had lost.

I raced upstairs to find Jasper knelt down next to her. A sign, in and of itself, that it was bad. Jasper had secluded himself from everyone. Having to feel the constant grief in our home would drive anyone insane, and him blaming himself for it adding to the pain, it did things to him. Even Alice could only be with him on occaision before it was too much for him, leaving her even more depressed.

Carlisle entered the room next and was Alice's other side in an instant. Esme was a worried mother in the corner as she hovered over the both of them, checking on the daughter she had gotten to keep. Emmett and Rosalie came at the same time. They spent their days together always, taunting me with their affection. Rosalie was not as affected as the rest of us. She had never really liked Bella I suppose.

Still, the effects of it reached her as Emmett entered his own depression. She spent a majority of her time with him, fighting to keep him the same at some degree. We all sat there as Carlisle questioned her and Jasper tried his best to soothe her despite all the pain that had just entered the room.

"Ed-Edward," she whispered htough her voice screramed in my ears. She reached foward for me, beckoning me to her, groping the air. I grapsed her hand as I crouched before her. I dare not look into her thoughts for fear of what I would see. To frighten Alice so thouroughly, I did not want to even imagine what could have happened.

"What is it Alice?" I asked softly, rubbing soothing circles on her wrist, as much for her as for me. She trembled and I heard her search for a breath she did not need. "She-She's gone, I-I don't know h-how, but she dis-disappeared. Edward! I'm so sorry, we lost her!" she cried out, squeezing me tightly with her eyes still shut.

It took me a moment to process this information and a guttural inhuman sound escaped me as I cried out. Her, I had lost her! Bella was gone. Now, I made the decision I would regret second most in the course of my decision, first being, having left her at all.

I looked into Alice's mind.

Immeidately I saw what she had just seen. An empty Bella sitting on a rocky cliff. She was crying. I could see the tiny, fragile, chrystalline drops cascading down her cheeks. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach that twisted and knotted my gut. The next thing I knew, the whole vision was gone, replaced by the pitch black chasm of death. A black so pure it could only mean one thing.

She was gone.

Dead.

Perhaps suicide or something equally horrendous but my morbid thoughts were intterupted quickly as Alice screamed, "NO! DON'T LOOK EDWARD!"

It was too late though and I found out that Bella's death had not been the only cause of Alice's pained cry. Searing pain entered my mind, burning at it fiercely as it was barely contained within the confines of my mind. It burned red and endlessly, incinerating every thought in my mind but pure pain. The only thing I would dare compare it to was my transformation into a vampire, a feat in itself with my new heightened senses and newfoud thresh-hold for pain.

I clutched at my head as it burned me, scratching ineffectively at my skull. "It burns! Stop it!" I shouted, all sense of reason thrown out thw window. I writhed on the floor before Emmett grabbed me forcefully and pinned my arms to my sides. Pain made me strong though and Carlisle had to help as Esme and Japser were in tied up in likewise, the same situation with Alice.

Slowly the pain faded and I fell limply to the floor as I curled within myself. I rocked in my fetal position ofr what felt like months, years even. Time has a different standing with us. Within seconds though I was pried apart by Carlisle, muttering things, my ears still ringing from the pain.

"-ward! Edward!" Carlisle shook me, not as gentle as he had been. "What just happened Edward?" he asked me worriedly. I managed to open my eyes and blinked, black and red spots stopping my vision. The strain brought back the pain and I slammed my eyes shut to the light, eyes newly sensitive to the room. Still, the spots of light danced across my hidden eyes, burning me slowly.

"A-Alice," I whispered hoarsely, my voice strangled from the cries. A pain such of such intensity, we vampires had not been built to contain it. Not when it assaulted our minds like so. It was far worse than Jane's gift, ten times so, probably more.

"Yeah?" she choked beside me. "Wh-what was that?" I questioned softly. I felt like I had jsut been ripped limb from limb and tossed into a fire, then forced to endure another transformation into vampirism with my already heightened senses and waking to Jane's gift. It was the only way I could even begin to attempt to decribe it.

"I-I don't know Edward. One second I was looking at her and next, I see her look up and suddenly the pain jut took ever and she disappeared. The both of us said nothign on what that meant. With such pain that reached to us even through a vision we knew what had happened.

Bella had died.

The emptiness swallowed me whole and briefly I thought of death. A flight to Volterra and I would be home free. I would run the wrath of the Volturi by exposing our kind if need be if it meant the end of my life. Surely, it could be no more painful than what I had just endured in Alice's hindsight. To that I could hardly even compare it with the pain of losing Bella. They were tied at the very least, such was the pain that had just racked my me.

I knew though, that I could not do it. If the death of someone so close my beloved 'sister' cause her such pain, I could not even fathom putting her through such intense agony a second time. To wish such a pain on another would be a deed that surpassed even the sins of Satan himself.

"What's going on?" Carlisle whispered softly, his voice echoing silently in the dead room, screeching in mine and Alice's mind alike. The both of us whimpered and I could just hear the silent sigh of worry escape Esme as she inched closer. My ears were over sensitive to the noise and she sounded as if she was stomping around at the very least though I knew she was practically floating towards us.

"Bella is dead," Alice mouthed, her lips barely ghosting over the words to make the sounds. Even with vmapire hearing at such a close proximity, something told me they struggled to understand what she said.

Again, I opened my eyes and was assaulted by the vivid colors before me. I let out a startled cry and fell back in the bed as I shielded myself from the burning sensation. Alice was likewise rocked by the pain as she screamed, her ears ringing with my cry.

The room gapsed. Esme storked the side of my face I held in a strangled cry. She flinched back and I immediately felt bad for it. My body had had an immediate reaction to the touch, as sensitive as a baby's to the human touch. I hadn't expected it. After all, it had been so long.

"What's wrong with them?" Esme whispered gently to Carlisle. I felt his hands glide over my body, inspecting as I shuttered. "I think it may be the mental trauma to watching Bella's death, perhaps even feeling it," he mumbled. I winced at her name and my pain doubled as my chest ached, thinking on Carlisle's words. Of how this may have been the pain she suffered through before death. All because I had not been with her.

"I can't see," Alice sighed softly. From any other person you would think she meant with ehr eeys, which as of right now, of course she couldn't see. They were scrunched shut from the bright colors that stung our eyes. Obviously, the others did not understand what sort of connotations this sentence carried and Esme gently gripped her hand to pry it away from her face. "Well try to open your eyes sweetie," she cooed soothingly.

I tried to shake my head to speak for her but they did not understand as Alice mimiced me. "I mean I really can't SEE," she whispered, scared of this new development. I knew this already because after I had contemplated my suicide I was certain Alice would say something.

HEr mind had remianed black.

She had lost her gift.

If it was permenantly gone or only a temporary side effect from the burning sensation I was unsure. I severly hoped it was only temporary. As did she I was sure. Not that I risked another glance into her head to confirm this, I was too scared of what awaited me in there. I do not think I could survive another shock of whatever that had been.

As everyone huddled on the opposite side of the room, whispering to eachother, I realised Japser's voice was missing. He had no doubt fled at the horrible torrent of emotions he had no doubt felt pouring from both Alice and I.

Whatever had happened, I did not want to go through it again. I lulled myself into unconscience state through pain. Not truly sleeping, but I managed to turn off my senses, leaving me dead to the world as I slipped into my own mind.

While there I looked back on my memories with Bella. I wondered if it was possible for a vampire to will himself into death. It certainly felt like that was what was happening to me as I grew more and more detatched from my body.

* * *

"Edward, Edward," she smiled at me and I felt like the world had been lifted from my shoudlers as she called my name. She was not that empty husk I had left behind on the cliff. She was whole and pure again, an angel in my own little hell. Her hand reached out and I felt a moan escape my lips as I breathed out, her soft hand caressing the side of my face gently, an angelic touch full of warmth I could only get from her.

I held her hand there gently with a hand of my own as I enjoyed the blissful moment. I twisted my head to the side and turned her hand over so her wrist was just before my lips, covering my nostrils and drwoning me in the wonderful scent of fresia and strawberries. She still smelt the same but I was not overcome by hunger despite not having eaten in quite some time. I felt lust bloom in my chest though as I kissed her wrist, feeling her heart beat steadily under my lips.

My tongue flicked out and I ran it across the place my lips had just graced her. She tasted so sweet I could eat her. There was no need for restraint though and my hunger was kept easily in check. Still I kissed and licked my way up her arm as I held her still.

From somewhere a chair came I sat down with her in my lap as I reached her neck, shuddering as I felt the tempting liquid beat just beneath the surface, I continued to kiss my way up her neck, reaching her jaw line. I danced over her fruitful lips and began my descent.

She was curled in my lap as I extended her arm for better access. I had been without her for so long I could not contain my sinful desires as I continued to kiss her. She breathed against my neck and kissed me softly there as I craned foward.

I shivered with delight at this at these proceedings and continued my slow process of devouring her, piece by sweet piece. There was only lust where hunger should have been and it felt good not to have hold back. I would savor every last bit of her I could get.

"Stay please," she whispered againt my neck, her warm breath sliding over me tantalizingly. "Stay here with me and we can be together forever Edward," she pleaded in a whispery voice all her own. I realised I was indeed no longer in reality. The real world where Bella no longer existed. I was in a fantasy of my own creation with my love. In my own dreams I did not have to hold back in my love for her, I could control my hunger without having to stop loving her.

Better still, in this mystic dreamland I had created for us, my Bella was still wonderfully, beautifully,

ALIVE.

In her, in my mind, I could be with her forever without a care in the world. In my own dreams, my gorgeous HUMAN Bella would not fade away and die. She would live forever with me and nothing could hurt us anymore.

I finished my exploration of her amrs and gripped her chin softly to look up at me. I crushed my lips to her with a passion I had once been forced to hold back, her lips parting ot admit in a glorious taste of senses. To think I would even dare leave this blissful escape was blasphemous. I leaned against her she molded her body to fit me. Her in this fantasy world, we could be happy again. I whispered my answerand felt the chills run down her spine.

I would stay here.

Forever.

With her.

Always.

"Yes."

**A/N:** w I enjoyed writing this one even though it made me feel a little sad to express Edward's feelings so deeply. But it is a bit of a cliffy isn't it? Immortal...unable to die...Vampire...in a coma...what will happen next? O.o Stay tuned to find out!


	3. Her Decision

See? This is what happens when I don't get reviews, you have to wait forever for an update because I procrastinate a lot if I feel it's not getting too much attention to worry about enough --...But here it is at last! I can't say I'm happy with it though, it's more of a filler really to pass time between what's about to happen next though.

I lay down within the soft warmth of his body. Jake had taken to his wolf form while he watched over me, assuring everyone that I would be unable to kill myself in his constant prescence. I was even forced to go back to younger years in order to bathe just so he would not get any ideas. A would be awkward situation indeed. At first, it had startled him though, but gradually he had adjusted, not like he had a choice lest he was to abandon his post as bodygaurd and leave me be. Not something likely to happen anytime soon so in fact, we had both been forced to adjust to these uncomfortable situations.

Either way, as a wolf it was easier for him to deal with me and hide his discomfort at this predicament we had been thrown into. Well, he had thrown himself into if you ask me. If he had only killed me, we would be better off now. But no, I was forced to suffer through every day, all those faces haunting me within my mind, in my nightmares, every second of every day.

I could feel myself curling into the fetal position again, a sleeping form I had undertaken in an attempt to keep myself whole through another night of screams. I felt my whole body skrink and constrict as I took on the form of a tiny human infant. It made it easier for the both of us when I cried as a child, they didn't sound as heartbreaking as a teen's screams of simple agony within her own dreams. It was easier to pretend I was just a scared little child dreaming of the boogey man then, not of the thousands of faces that tortured me in my sleep for causing their premature deaths.

Jake pretended not to hear me as I slept. The only reason we had to do this was because before when we slept apart I had tried to escape...frequently.

Now I was forced in the curve of his warm body, an assurance to him I was there throughout the night. I could feel his body curl around me like a bowl, his tail meeting his chin as he formed a protective case around me, the massive entirety of his body surrounding me on all sides.

I could feel the heat radiating off of of him as I was wrapped within my own thin cotton jacket to keep me covered. Even with that minimal barrier between us, it seemed to bring the temperature up another hundred degrees. I tossed uncomfortably, not like I would get a proper rest anyways.

Soon I was buried in his fur and I could feel the shadows descending on me, some more prominenet than others as they came forward.

First I could see HIS face, the opener to this nightly torture in all of it's godly perfection.

"I don't love you Bella, you're not good for me, we're leaving and you're not coming with us, we can't keep pretending." I could feel the tears welling up now as I cried, muffling myself within Jake's fur. The words repeated over and over, getting louder now as they echoed, ripping my heart into pieces and then grinding it down further. I could no longer hear myself screaming as he shouted at me, his face twisted into an ugly mask of rage as my mind conjured the meaning of those words.

"I NEVER LOVED YOU!"

I clutched at my chest ineffectively now, curling tighter within myself as he continued to shout those cursed words at me. The four words that plagued me in every silence, every moment of my mind.

Just as I was reaching the breaking point his face disappeared altogether and was replaced by Charlie's. He reached out and stroked the top of my head as he had when I was little. "Little Bella," he whispered, "didn't we raise you right, why did you kill me, WHY?! WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!" he screamed at me, tugging my hair now painfully as he demanded answers, face turning red with rage.

Again, the image changed to Jonathan, a boy from my past. He was so sweet and kind. Until I told him my secret, it had been early 1800's then and he was a noble who'd taken a liking to me. When I killed an enemy of his for him though, proof of my powers he had scorned me. Now I could hear him screaming at me. "I took pity on you wench! You were just a commoner! How dare you practice the evil arts of witchcraft you foul beast! You were only trying to get close me weren't you?! To kill my father, to kill the king! Be grateful I turned you in before you could damn your soul further!"

It was true. I had instantly been reported to the pope and sentenced to burn at the stake at once without trial. He had been there at the front and I could see his eyes glimmering with both regret and hatred. Right before I had been bound at the pyre he had nearly begged me to sign the papers denouncing my powers, my devotion to satan, and accepting the lord as my savior.

The first part could not be done by simply signing some papers; or it would have been done long ago. To think I would worship satan in any way, shape, or form, was pure rubbish, and I had long ago stopped believing in god. Of course I did not sign the papers and he had smacked me straight across the face, hurting himself more than I. "Insolent fool! You will burn at the stake for this, just sign the damned papers!" he had yelled at me, calling me names I would rather not divulge.

In the end I was sentenced to burn and he had watched as I burned silently, I did not let on to the pain I felt, more at his bretrayal than anything. I could feel myself alight as the flames ate their way up my body, I slowly transformed my body to escape and fled. I remembered the pain afresh now as it burned now again from inside.

It was the last time I would ever reveal my powers to anyone, many instances like that before then. Sometimes I was accpeted but shunned save for times of war. As society advanced though I knew I could never again trust another with my secret.

I knew Edward had told me all his secrets but I could not let him know that final one. It would have meant the end of us. No others had been able to stand up to the truth of this, the knowledge that I could kill them without lifting a finger frightened even the strongest of men.

I would not risk our relationship on such a feeble thing, it wouldn't have mattered if only he stopped over thinking matters so much. My safety was of no consequence to me, I wouldn't die. If only I could have told him. That moment when we were in the forest, I could have stopped it, I could have stopped it all. Just come out and told him one last time but fear crippled me and I saw the vision I had hoped would escape me tonight of what might have happened if I had indeed told him, gathering the data from earlier occurances. Using that it went a little something like this.

"A pitiful creature like you could never be my love, I can not even believe I thought I held affection to you. How dare you decieve me! No doubt you are trying to end our race as well, you are not even good enough for that!"

Though I could not entirely imagine him saying such cruel things to me it hurt to think all the same that it might have happened. Having him leave and remember me as an insignificant human was better than him thinking me a monster, the pain was lessened by a small percentage but it eased it that much more and made it even just barely a bit more bearable.

Their words blended and mixed as they were screamed at me, becoming a voice and person all it's own as the sharp words cut jagged pieces into my heart. I whimpered and screamed, cried and twisted, I died inside and outside, and yet here I was, still forced to endure. This alone would end me now. I could feel it eating at me from the inside. Was it really possible, I wanted to believe I could wish myself into death, lull myself into dying. It was too much though and I lost it, waking up as my limbs shot out again, 17 years old, shivering and covered in sweat.

Jake turned his head and looked back at me mournfully, this was torture for him as well. "I'm going ot the stream," I whispered hoarsely, my throat dry from my screams. He nodded his head, he did not want to see this, not what I was about to do. His hearing was superb he would hear me as I walked and yet I had the feeling he did not trust me enough to leave me on my own.

I stumbled my way through the forest and pushed past branches, unffeling as the twigs and brambles cut at my skin, thousands of little cuts, branches handing low capturing pieces of my hair, stones on the ground cutting at my feet.

I felt nothing.

I walked out to the stream, it was more of a river but it made no difference to me. I needed to numb out the voices, I needed to hear the silence that would drown out the screams. I needed to yell in quiet. Most of all, I needed to cry with no one to see.

The current pulled at me, chilling me to the bone and numbing my body. Slowly I made my way to the large boulder there and sat down. Immediately I was plunged underwater and my back was slammed against the stone behind me but I did not feel the pain, I felt nothing but joy at this quiet world around me.

I did not need to breathe and so I sat there for seconds, minutes, hours. I don't know how long I saw there, curled up in a little ball as I cried and screamed to my hearts content. No one could hear me in this silent world and I wished I could stay here. I let all the pain wash away from me, I let it all out and it could have been days, weeks even, and yet time mattered nothing to me. As long I was here, nothing could get to me. When I was here, my thoughts were my own.

I screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

And then I cried

And cried

And cried And cried.

I was safe here and nothing they did could hurt me now.

I was euphoric.

I started to fade now, and I knew I had to go. Unwillingly I unclenched myself fro mmy poisiton and stood up from the current, erupting from beneath its surface, water spraying as I shook droplets from me. I was so far gone that I could not feel the piercing cold of early morning air as it chilled the water, turning it to icy crystals on my skin.

I crawled from the depths of the river and a thought struck me. One, even Jake could contest because he could not argue without incurring the wrath of nearly every vampire in exitence. A feat, even he would not dare attempt. True, most of us had died out, but there were the blood thirsty ones, that still lived now and I knew just where they were.

We had stopped talking some time ago. I believe we lost contact somewhere around the War of the Roses in the 1400's. She was the Lady Elizabeth of York and they were part of the inner circle of the Lancaster estates. Naturally they had been pitted against eachother during the war but the Henry had made her his consort to show unity between the families before they wed a while later. He was a good lover, strong, and powerful. Hell, he had been king of England though she was not crowned as his queen until three years later. She had understood the duty of a noble lady back then, it was much eaiser.

He was a selfish king, prone to fits of rage. He made it clear of his feelings but slowly he began to soften around her, her kindness, her 'parents' then had told her, was contagious. So in all, their marriage was not a completely loveless one as it may have been.

Still, what she remembered were the two with him. His best fighters in the army he had recieved from France. They fouhgt like animals, behaving nearly as bad, even around here considering there history went further back then this. One was an excellent tracker, the best of his class. He had been pulled from prison after being sentenced to hang for the murder fo several men after tracking them down, the entire reason he had caught his attention in the first place.

What cut at her heart though, ripped it into smaller pieces, was what that particular husband's name had been.

Edward.

Edward Tudor. His fighters though,the second one was no better, having worked with his first gaurd for quite some time, freeing him was part of the deal despite the fact he was held in jail to await burning at the stake for the rape and mruder of several females. She had argued against this strongly and rembered the day clearly because she had grown lax in her gaurd around THIS Edward. Her life had come close to ending that day as he hurled the ruby hilted dagger, slicing her cheek. She had screamed at him then and he covered the distance of the study room in record time, heavy palm slamming over her mouth, squeezing her jaw so tightly that she could swear her jaw might have cracked. She had been at the study door though to talk to him and so his force carried the both of them otuside to the stairwell where he grabbed her and held her fast.TO this day she remember those words.

"Son't you ever blood ytalkto me like that again wench. Wedded we may be, but I amKing! I will have your head faster then you can duck it," he growled and shoved her, forgetting they were at the stairs. The next thing she knew, air was rushing all around her and she'd gone flying down the stairs.

When she'd awakened next it'd taken months to recover in silence, she refused to be seen by anyone. Period. Not even Edward could comesee her. When he used his 'King-ness' she would just pretend to be asleep and the doctor would say waking her up could impair her healing and he would leave quickly then.

Eventually she got over it though and started at her tasks within the house again. She worked quietly by herself, Edward was away to visit his cousin in Wales. When he came back though he had been worried, she remembered after about the third day of her silent treatment to him, even the servants beginnign to talk about discord between them. He appeared at midnight to her chambers, the ones she had taken after ignoring him. He carried a boquet of roses with him, hard to come by given their settings and apologized. She took him in and rather than making love she merely cradled him against her chest warmly. She had never thought he was so worried about her, or evencapable of being so sorry but it was engrave don her memory forever.

I snapped back from her reverie though and smoothed the clothes that clung to my body before I began to shrink again. It was easier for me to seem cute and innocent when I was smaller. I would need to play all of my cards to pull this off though. If Jake didn't help me, I'd have to smuggle myself there.

Jake prowled through the trees and regarded me carefully as he approached. "We're going on vacation," I said simply and he cocked his head to the side. "I'm going to see some old friends of mine," I said and he growled. I was supposed to be suffering, I could practically hear his thoughts, not paying social calls to old friends. It wasn't like I was going to enjoy this anyways, I'd have to call on alot of old favors to get this done, they wouldn't exactly be the most willing people to help me. I didn't have a choice though.

A few seconds later, Jake reemerged from the trees, transformed and in sweats so he could speak. "Where in the hell exactly do you think we're going?" he asked, "this isn't some pleasure trip Bells, if that is your real name, we're not just going to start sightseeing now. Did your brain die from lack of oxygen down there or are you just stupid?" he asked. His words at me and I winced before steeling myself. I looked up and met his eyes with all the cruelty in the world that I had seen reflected back to him.

"We're going to Volterra."

HAHA! I bet you didn't see that coming! I basically jsut needed length in this one, but you won't believe who her 'old friends' are, and I know having said that exactly who you're gonna pick and I'll tell you right now...it's not them! -Evil laughter- Suffer my children, while you wait for the next shapter to reeal the answers XD  
And review if you want it that much sooner...

Don't forget Edward's chapter comes first so you'll have to review doubly as fast XP


	4. His Decision

"Bella, I love you," I whispered, kissing her repeatedly as she sat there, sighing softly in my arms. "I can't believe I ever thought I could live without you. Even those times during school where we seperated for classes were unbearably torturous. To fathom that I would last-"

Her soft fingers were pushed against my stone lips and she stopped the words pouring forth, like a sinner finally confessing to all of his wrong deeds just before death. I savored the taste of her gentle finger against my lips, my tongue flicking out to drink in her delicious warmth. I took a shuddering breath as I felt her heart flutter. Ahh, that single resonant sound kept me in my place. It let me know my beloved Bella was still alive. So long as her heart continued to beat, she still existed. WE, still existed.

"It's okay Edward," she whispered softly, in that lullaby voice of hers, angel's music to my ears. How she could ever had thought herself plain was beyond me. She was the ploar opposite of plain. She was exquisite. And, so long as we remained here, she was all mine.

I felt the pull of reality on me again though, so many voices ringing in my ears, calling me back. Back to the real world, away from this dream escape I had created within the folds of my own mind to protect me. That world though, with its harsh realities though, was unbearable now. Before, I could stand it, before, I could live through it. Now though, without Bella to return to in that world, I felt I would truly know the meaning of damnation.

The buzzing was more intense now, I could almost feel them pulling on me, forcing me to come back. I held on to Bella though, I didn't want to lose her again. Why should I return to such a cold world where Bella didn't even exist anymore? I held onto Bella tighter and looked at her. I blinked though, and she disappeared, reappearing in front of me again. "No Edward," she whispered, "you cannot remain here, this time here, it is not for you," she said and I heard a strangled cry escape my lips as I reached for her, feeling the whisper of skin before she fell away, appearing further away again. "This place," she whispered, eyes full of agony- oh how I wished I could make it better- "is not for US."

I froze, what could she mean? That we could not be together here? Then where, she no longer existed upon that desolate earth, would I have to die too? I would gladly give my life for her, my very damned soul if she were to accept it. Why could we not be happy here though, what was so wrong with it? "Bella-" I started. "NO!" she yelled fiercely, eyes blazing and her face contorted. My hand fell back silently and I hung my head. Perhaps in this haven, it was actually a punishment, that I could be near her though she did not want me. It seemed just for how I'd left her those months ago, a thought that, did not make any of it more bearable.

"You must go back," she said softly and I looked up at her through the cracks in my fingers where I covered my face. She turned her head to the side, cocking an ear as if hearing a noise. I heard it too, that same incessant buzzing, only now, each one took on its own tone. Its own voice. Alice's was first, screaming shrilly, sounding as panicked as if all of the Volturi themselves had appeared before her. Then came Esme's, sweet and motherly yet laced with anguish like she'd lost a son- perhaps she had. Carlisle next, fatherly and controlled as ever though Ioculdhear the pain he spoke through. Emmett's was tight with false mocking,and Rosalie murmured inteligible apologies. I did not hear Jasper, though by the sounds of thigns, I think he might have had to leave.

"They call to you," came Bella's crestfallen answer to an unasked qustion. "Return to them Edward," she said, "return to your family, they need you."I looked at her, "but I need you," I said quietly, afraid of her reply. She was looking down, away from me as if ashamed and I felt a stab of guilt go through my undead heart. "No," she said, body trembling, "they are your family Edward." Her eyes met mine in a silent betrayal and she voiced the emotion I saw in them, "as I never will be."

I fell to the floor, the illusion crumbling around us slowly, fading away like a dream. I shook with violent sobs, crying in agony though not a tear dropped. Her words pierced deeply and I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I looked up at my radiant angel, smiling sadly. "If you really love me Edward, you will go, release me here and return to your family,"she said, voice echoing around our empty field as my famiy's cries came more persistent. "I think I saw him move!" Still, I looked up at Bella, holding her soft hand to my cheek. "But I love you so much Bella," I pleaded, "back in the forest was all lies," I confessed, hoping for forgiveness and recieving none, instead, "I loved you too, Edward, more than you can imagine. That forset of yours is nothing to the world you were to me. None of that matters now," she said shaking her head and I opened my mouth to speak before she cut me off with those wicked fingers. She kneeled down to my level and I watched her unblinkingly as the words blended into nothingness again for this one moment.

"You must listen," she said, hands cupping the sides of my face, "a war is coming, stay as far away from it as you can, you and your family both, it is not safe. Ignore attempts the Volturi use to lure you, they are," she paused, as if looking for a word, "lies." I looked at her, she was keeping something from me. "I can't leave you here," I said and she looked at me, pain and anger battling in her eyes, "go, you've done it before." I was about to protest, apologise again for all it would help, anything to get her to take that back, but then I felt soft lips on my temple and was suddenly awash in senses as reality crashed upon me.

"He's awake!" came Alice's shrill reply and I felt her leap on top of me, beating me with her fists in a thumping succession. It didn't hurt, though I doubted it was supposed to, it just let me know how worried she'd been that something had gone wrong. After all, with no pulse or breathing to go by, how would they know? "You stupid, stupid, stupid, dummy! Do you have any idea how worried we all were?!" she cried, energy spent as she cumpled against me, letting me hug her as I soothed her. "I'm sorry Alice, I didn't do it on purpose," I said and felt Esme's arms on me, her body shaking as she squeezed the two of us , it turned into a whole dog pile of hugs on my behalf. Half of me was still breaking at Bella's words, but compassion for my family told me not to make them worry any more than they had and I put on a brave face.

Finally, I was released and looked at everyone. They still seemed apprehensive about something until I figured out it was. They were worried I pass out again. I had more troubling news than that, thoughI wasn't sure I should share it just yet, they were all still pretty worried about me. It could wait, I allowed, until at least tomorrow, surely the war wouldn't come too soon. I wanted to think on this on my own for a while longer anyways, to figure out what could be the cause of a war anyways, the Volturi weren't easily provoked into such massive, attention drawing, tactics. Individual or family assasinations surely, but not a full blown war. This would be very dangerous indeed.

Still, something bothered me. Why would Bella think the Volturi would ask us for help, what exactly did she think they would use for persuasion? Better yet, why did she think we'd consider it? Or, by the way it sounded, accept it?

So many questions to solve, I rubbed my temples. "I need to hunt," I said quickly, lurching from the bed, taking full strides until I felt Emmett strong arm me back to the bed. "No way li'l bro," he said, dropping onto the bed with little grace, "we don't know what's wrong with you yet, what would happen if something went wrong? What if you attacked a human?" he asked, being surprisingly serious. I looked at him fiercely, "if I don't eat soon, I'll wind up eating a human anyways Emmett, now let me go," I said pushing past him. "Wait Edward," Alice said, coming to my side, "I'm coming with you then, so at least we'll have advanced warning if something goes wrong." I nodded and we ran down the stairs, out of the house quickly.

The woods were our front and back yard at our new house, surrounded by tall trees in the middle of the forest. We were in a small clearing in the forests of north east Virginia. In a heartbeat we had plunged ourselves deep into the woods, listening intently for any signs of wildlife. Not much time had passed when I heard a branch crack and whirled around to face my sister. "Alice," I said simply, nodding at her. She watched me with steely eyes, "you're hiding something Edward," she said bluntly. So that was why she'd come. I looked at her, "so are you," I returned and her eyes widened in shock. "You can't see," I said smoothly. "You can't read minds," she replied curtly. "But you told everyone else you'd know if something went wrong," I said and she shrugged, "had to talk to you somehow." I cocked my head to the side, grinning despite myself, only Alice I sighed to myself. Which reminded me, "how'd you know I couldn't read minds?" I asked her quizically. "Because I've been screaming at you since I realised I couldn't see. When you didn't even look up I knew you'd lost your powers too."

True, I hadn't even realised I'd lost my gift until everyone was piled on top of me and I could only hear what they were saying. Even concentrating I hit a brick wall. "What do you think happened?" I aksed curiously and got the sight of her bursting into laughter, falling on the floor and rolling around as she held her sides though I knew nothing would happen to her as a vampire. "What?"I asked her. She stood up and smiled that wicked smile she had when she had a particularly bad thought, well, bad for those involved. "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that," she beamed and I groaned, siding my hand down my face in impatience. "Alice please," I said, "get on with it."

"Hold a minute I'm savoring this," she giggled. When I glared at her she calmed down. "Okay then," she said solemnly, "I know you remember the vision of Bella," she said quietly and I flinched at the reminder. "Still, I've seen plenty of people die," she pressed quickly, "close and strangers. Never though, have they ever had side effects. Especially like this one," she said, gesturing between the two of us, tapping her temple and then pointing at mine. I nodded in understanding and she went on rapidly. By the end of her tirade of worries she looked at me dead on, "Bella's alive," she said and I stopped short of breath, certain I'd heard wrong, until she continued.

"And something's keeping us from finding her."

I looked at her, "are you sure Alice?" I asked her and she shook her head, "it's just a gut feeling." Still, I wouldn't doubt Alice's natural instinctsanymore than I would her visions. I began adding this to what I knew myself and finally, her words clicked. The Volturi would track Bella for us, or they might get her soon as hostage instead. The thought chilled me worse than the artic winds would in the dead of winter without a coat.

I looked up at her, understanding Bella's words though they pained me. It meant she did not want to be found. By me. That realisation hurt more than anything I could have imagined. "I believe you," I said calmly, gears still looking at other possibilities to ease the pain I felt throbbing in my chest. "Then why don't you look happy?" she asked, her smile faltering a bit as she came closer. "Why would I be happy Alice?" I asked venomously, "we left her to die, she almsot did, and now someone doesn't want us to find her!" I shouted, "why in all the hells would I be the least bit happy about that?!" She cowered away, looking stung before she spoke softly, "well at least she'd alive, we can jsut find her the old fashioned way," she offered and I felt a growl rise before shoving it back down. "Not if she's the one keeping us from finding her,"I said slowly, grinding my teeth in frustration.

She looked at me, cocking her head to the side curiously. "What do you mean?" she asked. I looked up at her, breathing slowly to calm myself before I lashed out at the wrong person again. "I mean," I said, speaking slowly, as if to a child who didn't quite get it, "why would she want us to find her after we abandoned her Alice," I looked upat her, seeing it dawn on her thoughts as her smile fell completely. "Would you want us to find you after that?" I asked her and she crumpled on the ground, all previous joy gone from ehr tiny form as I approached carefully.

"What have I done, what have I done?" she murmured over and over to herself, shaking silently as I wrapped my arms around her. "No," I shook my head, "it's not your fault Alice, it's mine. Please don't blame yourself," I said, patting her back. "But she'll hate me, I should have said goodbye," she cried, "she was my soul sister Edward, how could I abandon her like that?" she sobbed and I felt my muscles tighten, jaw firm as I gave her a silent reply. "The same way I did."

I hadn't meant her to hear but she did which only made her shake harder. "Oh Edward I'm so sorry, I didn't mean- I mean," she blubbered until I covered her mouth with my hand. "Shh," I said, "it's fine Alice, nothing I don't already know." She shook her head. "But still, that just sounded so terrible, like you didn't love her at all and-" I cut her off, breathing through my nose before I lost it. "Alice-" I said tightly, barely managing to sound civil. "Kindly stop talking if you will."

Her mouth snapped shut with an audible click that would have been fnny had I not been concentrating on not reaping bloody murder on my dearest sister who didn't know better when she was upset. I calmed down slowly, and Alice kept herself silent as I took deep breaths. Luckily she hadn't been Rosalie or I'd likely have ripped off her head for all the difficulties she brought. I took that as proof to how hard this was taxing my brain now, sure Rosalie was a nuisance, but I'd never thought of killing her as I did now. Or even Alice for that matter, I was going to have resolve these matters quickly.

I stood up, Alice in front of me already, face hardened again. "You never answered me," she stated quietly, referring to her question earlier when she'd thought I was hiding something. "I know," I shrugged, "things kind of got off topic." She looked at me worriedly, face scrunched up in concentration though I knew she still couldn't see anything. "Edward," she said, "if somthing's bothering you-" I cut her off with a quick hand gesture, "don't worry about it Alice, I just some time to think to myself," I explained which did not help smooth the wrinkles from her forehead.

I started walking out of the woods, "we need to go back," I said as she fell in step beside me. "They'll worry though," she said, "we haven't hunted at all yet, they might think something happened." I froze in my tracks, everything going still for a moment as I turned to look at her. If anyone oculd help me explain this to the family, it was Alice. They didn't know we'd lsot our powers yet and they'd believe her if she backed me up. We needed to leave, soon. The war Bella had told me about, the Volturi wouldn't attack unless they knew exactly hwo was on their side and how much power they had under their control versus the other side. "Something has," I said stiffly, grabbing her wrist, pulling her after me as I ran full speed to the house, arriving in moments, blowing past the the door. Alice would be able to keep up Ihoped, we didn't have much time to waste.

Everyone was already seated when we came inside which struck me as odd until the familiar scents overwhelmed me and I felt the power humming in the room. I turned to see that I'd put it together just a moment too late, we would have no choice now, it was this or be exterminated on the spot. The Volturi wouldn't leave an ally for opposing forces if they could help it.

I nodded my head at the crinkly looking old man, trying to ignore the small girl beside him. "So you've already come," I murmured quietly and he grinned, "of course Edward, we couldn't waste a moment obviously, I do hope you'll help then seeing as you know why we're here," he said and I glared at him, "that is not for me to decide." He only chuckled, knowing what would happen regardless. In times of war, you joined or died, in this case, I couldn't put my whole family at risk for a simple warning a dream had given me.

War it was. 


	5. Family Reunion

Night.

So dark, we were high in the air and Jake seemed tense in his seat as he stared at the window, muttering to himself. We'd be landing soon it seemed, we'd been flying for hours. I'd bought two first class tickets from an extra identity I kept around with my money and our passports rush ordered from a friend of mine. When you'd lived as time itself you picked up a tidy fortune. I'd always kept it for emergencies in case any of my families fell into tough times and needed bailing out. I oculd normally use a vaariety of lies for having the money that they never tried hard to quesiton.

Volterra, Italy. Oh how I remembered the name from a few centuries back when they'd first formed. The Volturi. Not a very creative name but I wasn't one to judge. I knew the members too. Not all of them mind you. Marcus and Didyme mostly, I don't think he'd ever forgive me for her. They'd been mated together and never had I seen a happier vampire couple, not even the Cullens compared to the pure bliss that seemed to grace them the second they were in a room with eachother. Their bodies naturally attracted eachother, calling out even miles apart or simply feet. Then I showed up, not to disturb them, but a few friends of mine were apart of their sprouting organization, including Didyme. Unfortunately, she hadn't revealed to him her true nature and so gradually she'd begun to lose her original powers, stepping away from her old life. I would have let her stay too, I wouldn't come between a mated couple, never had before so why she'd think differently had startled me.

She'd attacked on sight, lunging for me as I tried to explain my sudden visit. I deflected her of course, and then Marcus came for her, viscious to protect his lifemate until he saw what she'd become. You see, when an original forsakes their powers for the one they love, coming in close contact with another of us, it sets off a protective gene in our bodies. They are blinded by the self preservation rage and attack anything in sight read as a threat. In that form, it read me clearly as least unthreatening, I would never risk killing yet another of our species. Instead, she went after Marcus, nearly succeeding until the most unimaginable thing happened.

He killed her.

Killed her like nothing more thna a fragile human. I was stunned, that had never happened, it was supposed to be impossible. When Marcus cradled her lifeless corpse though, shaking over her, sobbing without tears in his mourning I knew he'd been the one. I had but to touch the dead Didyme to see her memories. The fool had sacrificed her ghard. A 'ghard' is an innate trait among the originals designed specifically to regenerate our bodies and keep us shielded from supernatural attacks. It gave us our eternal life, and when sacrificed, took it away.

To sacrifice one's ghard was the most sacred of all bondings. As it went, an original stretched their ghard to the mate they had found in order to give them both eternal life. In this way, only double our original number could be made. To procreate, the ghard would have to be lost to both and a human form, or rather, any type of sexually reproducing creature, be donned. It allowed for a new one to join our numbers, a complicated path of arrival. Luckily, born of immortal parents, they retained their parents memories to guide them on their path. To the original point though, sacrificing one's ghard before both were prepared to bear offspring, meaning the moment before consummation, humanized only the original holder; Didyme.

Even in her rage, she must have realised what had happened. Not wanting to kill Marcus, she gave up her ghard and he snapped her like a twig. In retrospect though, he'd assumed her vampire, expecting her to only be knocked aside to gather her wits. He hadn't known of us until I bound him into silence after telling him what she had been. I remembered that haunted expression in his eyes, it had dulled over the years, bored and tired with all life. His brothers refused to end his existence and so he retreated within himself, into a never ending seclusion.

Of course, the two I had been going to, and currently WAS going to see, were two brothers of mine that also chose to join the Volturi when it was formed. They'd always been particularly sadistic and enjoyed the vhampyre lifestyle. They didn't have to hide much, carrying no love for anything in their empty chests to sacrifice their powers for, they were simply both thought to be particularly strong.

I generally chose not to talk with them until the meeting was called. The meeting occured only once every 500 hunfred years or so and as such, I hadn't seen them in quite some time. Aside form the odd war here and there of course. Little meetings like that were inevitable though and usually treated with grace, but we were clearly not the closest of families. They wouldn't want to miss out on the fun though, or rather, be caught on the losing side of that fun, so I though I'd pay a family call, warn them of what was coming. The vhampyre race would fall. All of our remaining kind had waited so long for the tiny flicker of insult that would enable us to act upon our revenge. I suppose that's why so many of us were mistaken for lowly vhampyres now, joining them to kill them. This way though, it would be a full out massacre. I would call on our remaining family and the vhampyres would learn again what it meant to fear us.

Hopping own the dark hole, I felt Jake's hand tighten in mine. Proud? Yes. Stupid? Not so much. Even he knew what this place was and knew he wouldn't stand a chance against the number of vampires here. I started to run quickly, navigating my way down the frigid halls as if I'd lived here all my life. I caught their scents and whipped past their human secretary in the falsely luxurious room used to trick tourists into thinking it was an underground tour before being led into the main chambers and devoured by the hungry vhampyres. It always surprised me that my brothers would eat that way, their food brought to them without a clue. They had taken after my Uncle, savoring the fear in their victims, playing with them a bit first. Then I'd found out that they were normally sent out to hunt after rhogues and the like and knew that that more than made up for it as they'd hardly ever be here for such an easy snack.

They were here now though, my body called to them, a trait we were born with to locate others of our kind in case anything should ever happen. Gradually, I slowed, standing in front of his door. I didn't bother knocking as the door swung open to reveal the both of them there. They lounged casually, no doubt expecting me since I'd landed. The eldest of us looked up, grinning madly, eyes dancing dangerously. He knew I wouldn't come to see them unless it was big. As things went, I think declaring war on all vhampyre kind kind of topped that list.

"Psyadornytheabelle," he greeted wickedly, knowing how I despised that name. This was why I'd switched to a nice, simple, not to mention easier to pronounce; Bella. I nodded at him, "Adreiunthmenalustri," I returned and he stopped smiling. Yes, two could play this game big brother, I'd endured the taunts in the beginning, but growing up as the middle child, I started to fight back. I looked at my youngest brother, arching a brow. "No comment Fluxtrousasmenthadron?" I asked. He smiled mockingly, "none at all dear Psycho, that was brother," he said, using the even more despised nick name he'd created.

They both eyed Jacob before me until I spoke again, "good news for you brothers," I said, "assuming you don't drain my friend here," I gestured to Jacob who was trembling, trying to control himself after hearing the threat, "I'll acutally tell you." Adrieunth was first to relax, seriousness taking over, mischief still in his eyes. "Speak then oh wonderous sister of ours," he said and Fluxtrous looked curious, the same evil intent in his eyes. "We are declaring open war on the vhampyre."

They looked at me crazily. "Impossible," they said at once, "we've been waiting for a slip-up for centuries what happened?" I grinned evilly, donning our familiy's usual attitude at mass murder. Joy.

"One of their outside families revealed the existence of vampires to a human," I said, "they really ought to keep a better eye on those covens you know," I mused idly. I leaned against the wall casually, freezing Jake in the process so he didn't hear us or shift and ruin it. It was a momentary thing and only worked on animals with red blood, uselesss against more of the dangerous races.

"Call me Demetri before we go on, the other one's too much of a mouth full if w're going to be spending time together," Adreiunth stated. "Felix," Fluxtrous grunted. I snorted, shaking my head, "then you guys are calling me Bella," I said, looking at Felix in particular who only shrugged indifferently.

"We're going to need to need to call on the family," I said, crossing my arms over my chest, "the vhampyres numbers are larger than ever and we don't know if they're aware of how to khill." They nodded absently and Demetri looked up first, "I can track most of them, my range is longer than yours, but I think leaving you to deal iwth dearest uncle is best, you know how he dotes on his little neice," he grinned darkly. "He's in hiding," I said pointedly, "how'm I supposed to find him?"

Something echoed in my chest, an old feeling now. I suppose I should have felt guilty about plotting the death of the entire vhampyre race in their very stronghold, and yet, Psyadornytheabelle, the bloodlusting creature I used to be before suppressing it to appear "human", was coming back. Of the original clans, there are three families; the Freiyae, the Whalkeirs, and the Drachen. The Freiyae were the most magical of us, often taking up different appearences to suit them, flitting about randomly. From them the "fae" were derived. The Whalkeirs, harnessed the most spiritual powers, travelling from different realms and such. I believe they most closely resemble the humans now, though only few are able to reach enlightenment most Whalkeirs were born with. And then there was the Drachen, the most viscious of the clans, they lusted for power and violence.

The vhampyres.

Once, at the start of humanity, there was a large war between the three families, the earth's creatures were sacrificed for energy as the war went on and on. People wondered how the dinosaurs died, how creatures were frozen in the very ice they used to thrive in, land formations created, the great mass of earth spilt into so many fractions. Thus was the power of the war between the clans, the very foundations quaked at our prescence. It seemed the planet itself would be consumed in war and bloodshed. While two clans waned, one prospered. The Freiyae died as the earth cried out in agony, the Whalkeirs could not stand in actual strength against other forces. Only the Drachen remained, untouched by the war as it was their very nature to fight. They were merciless where others hesitated, ruthless where their opponents faltered. Still standing...where their opponents fell.

The uncle we in question is actually my father, it is a rather complicated family tree of ours. My father's name is infamous, even among the humans now. Some called him Vlad, others Drake. History wrote him off as a cruel noble in Transylvania. Then of course, if you watched the movies, he was "Dracula". Surprisingly close to his true name. Vladmanthusdornthiustrei Drachenmarcul.

My given name is Psyadornytheabelle Drachenmarcul, first daughter of the Drachen Empire.

It was time for a family reunion.

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**HA! Oh yes, ti is Demetri and Felix! I also had to add the MarcusxDidyme part because it'll fit later on. By the way in case it hurts your head trying to pronounce their names it goes like so:**

Psyadornytheabelle: Psy (from psycho) - a (a) - dor (door)- nythe (nith e) - abelle (a bell)

Adreiunthmenalustri: A (a) - dreiunth (drey unth) - mena (men a) - lustri (lust tree)

Fluxtrousasmenthadron: Flux - trous (trust minus the T) - a - men- tha (the) - dron (drun)

Vladmanthusdornthiustrei: Vlad - man - thusdorn (thus dern) - thiustrei (thee us tree)

Drachenmarcul: Drachen (drak en) - mar (mar: like scar) - cul (cool)

**If you see any wierd spelling like vhampyres and khill though, it was intentional as that is simply the vocabulary of the originals...i hsould come up with a true name for them soon...**


	6. NOTICE

Hey guys, I am putting this one on hold as I revamp it a bit. As it is, I despise the last chapter. My mind was elsewhere when I wrote it and so it didn't make any sense -cries- I sort of blended two of my stories together (the other hasn't been posted), and was too lazy to try and edit it and embarrased for not updating often enough. Something that seems ot have happened since I can't update after I chapter I don't like. I will point out though that it is not completely my faullt (though mostly...) as I have just moved and had to resettle into a COMPLETELY different school and pull my D's and C's up to all A's and above. Needless to say my mental compacity is at a bit of a low right now. 


	7. Monster

**WOOT! At last I have done this. I was sort of dead for a while, then I was grounded for two weeks and had a lot of time to think. Once I finally sorted it all out, I finally have an idea of what I'm doing with this story. I dare say the next chap might be up by tomorrow. Thank you to nayone patient enough to actually have stuck aroudn for me x3 I love you! 3  
and now the continuation you've been waiting for, I fixed a LOT!**

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Jacob was back with the pack, he said he'd had things to discuss with them about what was going to happen soon. Past that, Demetri and Felix had left the Volturi on "leave." We were in a plane for now as we flew over the different countries, everyone keeping to themselves on the flight. We were going to find daddy dearest now, supposedly he was still in his Romanian stronghold, one not covered in the movies.

I had not spoken to him in many a century now, he would be surprised to see us. Demetri looked at me, finally deciding to speak. "How is it that you got the vhampyres to reveal their ehxistence to a human?" he questioned, "we've been waiting for something to happen for a century at least." I grinned, "they told me themselves that they were vhampyres, and I know," I held up my hand to stay his comment. The rhules wouldn't work if their ehxistence was rhevealed to us, we weren't human. I wasn't the only one who knew though. "There was an entire clahn also aware of their ehxistence, you met one of them earlier." This time I let him say it just so he'd get it out of his system. "That one was shifter, it still won't matter," he argued and I smiled cheerily, patting his leg softly, like a patient mother trying to explain something to their five year old.

"No, they were human first and by their pack law, even those to inherit the Bhlood, are forbidden from learning even about their own culture until they reach Bhlood Age. Meaning they were humans until they accepted the bhlood and became shifters, a select process activated by the prescence of the vhampyres, a second statement to my case against them," I explained, and realization dawned on his face as he sat back. "The Consul won't like this," Felix murmured from where he lay in his seat, "they won't like it one bit." Demetri shook his head, "but they will have to accept it," he grinned, "and that's all we have to worry about. The Rhules of Old apply, no clahn can go to Bhlood War without due cause, no matter how basic, they cannot argue our chlaime."

"The Consul will have to allow it," I stated simply, "under the grounds that it is the vhampyhres very prescence that brings the Whalkers once more into existence, even in a Mihnor Clahn." Felix seemed to mull this over, "true," he finally said.

He had reason to worry about our chlaime though. The Consul was an elite group of Ahged. The Ahged were the ones of all different clahns that ehxist on a plane of Lhife. We do not know how they came to be, but it is ancient Rhule that states all Bhlood Wars must be approved by them since after the Pangea. The humans know this as the great mass of land earth once was before "plates" shifted apart and broke them up. What they don't know is that is was merely the war between the clahns that fracured the land. Fights and battles being fought, powers used and life drained, the earth itself was dying. It was the Ahged that began to restore order to the battle, restraining us before the whole globe exploded.

They had great power within them, and came to govern our kind on earth. We weren't happy about it, but you did not argue the Consul, not unless you wanted to suffer eternal torment forevermore. They could turn seconds into years if they wanted, luckily, they normally kept out of our business. They were completely unbiased, and it's hard to bribe the people that pretty much created the conception of time itself.

There was that annoying tuning sound as the overly perky voice of one of the flight attendants came on in; English, Spanish, and Romanian; that was where we were flying after all. I spoke all three though, and then some, and so she pretty much told us we were landing in the next ten minutes and to please pack all carry on items. Though her Romanian was a bit sketchy and it came out more, "we certificate earth at ten clock time and to group all carry light items."

Ha, yeah, that could use a bit of work. Nonetheless, none of us moved, we hadn't brough anything with us; carry on or otherwise. The flight attendants had looked surprised that we taking such a long flight without any luggage at all, not to mention the tidy sum of money we paid to get on the plane that was just about to leave in first class. Oh well, the stuff was just growing dust in our bank accounts, if we were going to fly, why not in style?

Getting off the plane I was hit by a wave of nostalgia and looked around. Not a damn thing was the same after the last time I'd been here, but still, it felt like home. It was here that I was born and raised, I knew in my heart that I just belonged here, no matter where I went or how many years passed, Romania would always be home. I looked around, a sense of knowing and was met with the most stunning amber eyes.

"Daddy!" I all but screamed, racing towards him as he captured me in his arms, lifting me in the air. People watched the amazing spectacle, a "teenage" daughter hugging her dad after getting off the plane, it was rare in these times. "Ahh dulceata," he murmured, petting my hair, "I have missed you so." It was only then that I realised something. You never know how much you miss someone until you're with them again. I'd missed my dad sure, but I was busy asserting my independence from him that I'd never come home. Now as tears threatened my eyes, I wish I'd come home sooner.

I took a deep breath; luxuriating in his rich scent. That was one things that remained the same thank god. He smelt of spices and silks, a faint hint of pine from the manor in the mountaintop that assured he always smelt fresh and crisp, like a perfect winter morning. I could stay here all day, falling into the memories. I felt his arms hold me gently was I was shifted until my face buried in his thick, long hair, clipped back in the same sliver hair clip I had made so so so long ago. I could hear murmurings above me as he talked with my brothers, but I didn't care. My chest no longer ached in that guilty way for declaring war just because he left me, the was no ache at all. Not like it had healed, but never existed in the first place. How right that was, no other man mattered but my father, the father I had not seen since the 1800's, too long, far too long. Even HE had not existed then, only a mere century now, such a child compared to me.

I was moving, somewhere, I don't know, didn't care. I had my father, he was all I needed. I was tucked into the backseat of the car while Demetri drove, my dad still holding me, sensing what I felt. He rocked me gently, lulling me into a sleep I had not had in such a long time. He was murmuring Romanian phrases, sweet and familiar in my ear, the last one was an echo of a promise broken by one, reforged by another. "I'll never leave you dulceata."

Dulceata. Dear one. A pet name he'd coined for me when I was born that long time ago. I could stay here, I could be safe forever and just call off the war, stay with my dad always and we'd be happy, but no, that was not the Drachen way. Maybe, I faught the haze of sleep, this was important. "Daddy," I whispered, still a baby in his all encompassing arms. "Mm?" he asked, the car barely moving beneath us as it raced away, the path to home an evershining beacon to all of us, I knew they felt it too. "Do you WANT to go to war?" I asked softly and felt his arms tighten around me. "To keep you safe Dulceata," he said to my confusion, "and to destroy the bastard that did this to you."

I should have know. Of course he would know, he was "daddy," a title that came with powers of its own. One of them being knowing when your one and only daughter was heartbroken and wanted revenge. It stood to reason he'd know I almost fell for a vhampyre, even more, that he would hold him solely responsible and protect me. I nuzzled his chest, burying myself deeper into his hold as he rocked me to sleep, murmuring sweet promises into my ear, ones I knew he would keep. Because he was my father, because I was his daughter, because he loved me, because I loved him, because he just would.

Because he wasn't Edward.

I came to some time later, I had fallen asleep, head resting on my father's chest, his arm around me. For him I would fight them all, I did not need anything else, this was the Drachen way, detach yourself from all but family. I knew why now; if you trusted anyone else, they'd kill you just as soon as not. That's what had happened to me, and now I had found my alliances again. When I had first discovered they were vampires, the first instinct was to tell, but, gradually, I began to think I had fallen in love with them, all of them. I didn't see a reason to tell on them, hadn't even understood why we would ever need to fight them. I knew the basics, the vampires drained our feeding sources quicker, they multiplied easier; they were halfbreed trash. Only now could I feel the utter hatred my kind held for the vhampyre race.

"We're here, dulceata," my father murmured, bringing me out of my trancelike state. I nodded my head and made to exit before he shook his head, lifting me out, cradling me like a bride as he carried me. "A princess must be pampered accordingly," he grinned, showing sparkling white teeth in a perfect smile. "Especially so when she has been absent for so long," he added and I hugged him tighter for a moment.

Making it inside I knew I was home. Not like Forks or the other millions of places I had lived, but honestly and truly; HOME. I stepped out of my father's arms and looked around, spinning in a circle as I took in the memories. Slowly, I realised something. In all my fervor to start all this, I had neglected a crucial fact. I stopped my spinning abruptly and my eyes landed on my two brothers still standing in the foyer.

I raised a brow at the two of them and gestured for them to come to me, "hey you guys, c'mere for a second please," I said. They gave eachother wierd looks before coming closer and I wrapped my arms around the both of them. "I forgot something," I said, as they tensed in my hold, not sure what to make of it. "It's good to see you again, I missed you both no matter what you think," I smiled.

Demetri chuckled, I could feel the vibrations in his chest as he pat my back, "yeah, yeah, now let us go before we choke in this strangle hold you call a hug," he laughed, pullng away from me. Felix slung his around me in a one armed embrace, "good to know, can I breathe now?" he asked with a smile. I shook my head and let the both of them go, feeling complete again.

I don't know what had overcome me, but it felt good. Maybe because I was home again, or because I was back with my little family, or just because I did.

"Well then children, I believe the Wharriors must come down for another visit," my father said, eyes twinking with the dark thoughts of what was to come, "it is time to remind the world just who the Phrimes are." He held out his left hand, pulling back the sleeve to his elbow. There on his forearm, ink swirling into recognition I saw the words write themselves.

"Thorture."

I looked to my brothers, searching for the mark that would prove them Wharriors to our Clahn. Demetri had lifted up his shirt as well, though it was placed on his right arm, in the crook of his elbow whereas my father's had been in the center of his forearm. Still his mark was read proudly as we watched the words come to life.

"Therror."

A fitting name for him, scaring all those who knew him, a fearsome fighter and tracker. A Wharriors name for sure. The mark showed who you were inside, stripping away everything until you were left with only your base instincts. I felt the prickling over my chest; the mark carving itself just over my heart. I pulled down my shirt to reveal the mark, reading carefully the name that appeared there.

"Rhevenge."

The meaning of it sank in to me, "revenge" on the one who had broken my heart. I felt the ink steeping in, gripping me at the core, this was what it had found there, I wans't sure if I should be proud or not to fall ot such and emotion. Still, it was honorable, it wasn't as bad as some of the Wharriors callings. I'd seen some marked, 'Shilent', 'Wheak', 'Chalm', and so on. Revhenge was a good emotion I suppose and I pulled my shirt back up and looked at Felix, the mark upon the side of his neck, newly formed as he rubbed a hand over it.

"What is the Nhame?" he asked quietly, fearing the worst. To anyone not versed in our language, it would have seemed a cruel Nhame, meaning him weak. To us though, it proved him a descendant of our line, similar to both his father and brother's Nhames.

"Fhear."

We had our names now, and they would be displayed proudly, showing us as Wharriors of our Clahn with our Nhames. I looked at him and licked my lips, feeling the bloodlust permeate the room. "It reads Fhear," I said and he grinned, nodding his approval; he struck fear into his opponents. It was no longer the time for a family reunion, we were Nhamed Wharriors now, it was time to prepare for War.

"You're aunt and uncle are in England, no doubt they have recieved the marks. We will go out tomorrow, for tonight we feast and rest, clothes have already been outfitted for you to wear. You all know where your chambers are, take what you will from the armaments if you wish, we are bhlood, I belong to you all, as you all belong to me.

With a quick nod, we were gone, I went up to my room, done in the traditionally bright crimson and gold lining. I flew down on my bed, the soft down enveloping me until I thought I would drown in the pillowy cloud. I fingered the tattoo on my chest for a moment, running the Nhame over my tongue a few times. Had I really brought myself so low that not only did I seek "rhevenge" on a weaker species, but I'd even ever had feelings for them. I felt an echo of pain as my body spasmed with grief, the hole ripping itself anew.

I clutched my chest desperately now as I curled into a ball, hands clenching as I fought to keep myself whole. I shut my eyes to the world, trying to block the memories with nonsense. I was thankful the rooms were soundproofed from long ago, even against our hearing. In times of war we used to keep our own "toys" up here and so the rooms were silenced so the cries did not disturb the others while they were working themselves.

Instead I felt angry at myself for allowing it to have gotten this far. Nothing was supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to have gotten so attached. There was twisted black feeling coiling in my chest slowly, like the deadliest of snakes that would strike in an instant to kill without warning. It lay there, poisoning my body slowly and I felt sick to my stomach as I lay there in my bed. How could this have happened I asked myself, knotting the silken sheets in a fist. My chest burned in the already familiar pattern of my Nhame and I wondered if that was who I truly was. Is that all I wanted? Revenge on them for hurting me? Decieving me? Despite everything I'd tricked them into believing I was mad at them? True I had never outright lied, but the truth was in the things that I left unsaid. Vampires know when someone lies, as do many people. It is an innate trait developed out of self preservation.

NO!

I slammed my fist against wall, feeling the stone give way beneath my fist like butter to a hot knife. Fury boiled inside of me, unparalleled rage at what was happening. I'd lost what I thought to be the love of my life, but no, he wasn't even close. Not even anywhere near someone who deserved to be the reason we started a war anyways. No, just a small piece of kindling to the ever growing flame. I'd hated vampires, always despised them for taking our blood, our titles and thinking themselves worthy. They were nothing but watered down shames upon their ancestors glory. Even the human drinkers, setting up city rule, making laws to follow, secrets to keep. When I was young, we all reveled in the fresh blood, bathed in it; in the euphoria of having the power to do so so easily. We were strong. We were feared.

The time was coming again, I told myself, The Draculi would rise again and we would show those leeches what real power was. What it meant to hold the name vampyre.

Now, the old legends would come to rise. Not just my father, Dracula. A few other stories had survived as well. Terror so great in human minds does not fade quite so easily as one might think. Our memories haunted their subconscious until they gained fame with their horror novels of 'fiction' to let it all out. Ha! There was nothing fictional about us any longer. Dracula, Vlad, Bloody Mary, Jack the Ripper, we all existed. We were all real.

And it was about time the human race figured that out. Always so haughty and self assured, thinking themselves at the top of the food chain. If only they knew. How long had we awaited the time our kind could rise again to power. Would the humans interupt with their technology? No. Guns were nothing, chewtoys, a test of a child's reflexes. How many could we keep alive? We would have to after all, in order to feed. Yes, we loved the blood, but great pains were taken to ensure there were enough left behind to continue to feed us. The humans dind't, couldn't know that there kind had been designed specifically to feed us. It was why they were able to reproduce so quickly compared to others.

Sitting up from my bed I approched my closet and opened it. Hanging there in all it's glory was my old costume. The garments I would don before battle on occaision. Element resistent clothing, easy to manuver in, regal looking in our family colors, hidden extra weapons. They were ceremonial robes so to speak as well. Though one of the simpler ones compared to those I would wear before we went to consult the Consul and then again to the Volturi.

I slipped on the fitted tunic first in gold with red trim, folding it properly, than the crimson cover as my hands tied the strings behind me quickly. I lifted the white breeches next, tying it with the golden belt. I slid the red and leg covers on next, sitting down to do. It felt as if I was a snake siding back into familiar skin. It was conforting. I laced up the boots next that covered my entire calf and tapped the heel against the floor, smiling as I saw the silver blade pop out before hitting it back in place by tapping the toe in instead.

Standing up I pulled the arm covers on as well, sliding in my hand easily as I laced it one handed. They both stopped just short of my shoulder. Now, for the finishing touches. Lifting the case I removed a single, intricately carved metal arm cover that went over my left glove and ended at my elbow in a sharp knife point. Stretching my hand, the metal slid to the connceting knuckle of my middle finger. With slight pressure that part elongated into a needle like point that was tipped with vhampyre venom.

My hair. I sat in front of the large dresser and stared at the boring face before me. I didn't like it, so plain. Pretty in its own right, but nothing to what I was born with. Closing my eyes my body filled out the uniform in ways the old body could only wish. My hair trailed to the small of my back, my bangs pulled back. Opening them, my hair was a raven black and flat iron straight. There was a healthy shine to it that looked right off the box of hair care that women could never really achieve since it was mostly just CG stuff. My face was just a shade peachier with the life I had consumed and I had soft pale pink lips as well drawn in a smooth line across my face; expressionless.

Opening one of my old treasure boxes I drew out the jewelry that went with the costume- fastening the headband easily, feeling the cool metal press against my forehead as the ruby gem gave a stark contrast to my still face. Four smaller beaded strands rested at the bridge of my nose in crimson as well. I slipped the twins earrings in as well, fashioned to look just like my headpiece and gave the smallest smile.

With a single finger I twisted a lock of my hair, pulling it back tight and holding it still while I repeated the process on the other side, pulling both ends to meet. Sliding in a gold stick, I twisted it around my hair and plunged it in, holding it fast. Now, at last with my hair in place I no longer resembled who I'd once tried to be as a human. There was no trace left save for the natural almond curve of my eyes, the chocolate color.

I was a Wharrior and now, my name was clear. Rhevenge was not just for the ones that hurt me; but for the ones that were already suffering. My own family down to such dismal numbers when once we were many. My father who lost his love, my brothers who thirsted for vengeance. Even my own mistake in almost turning on them for a pitiful vhampyre who thought to highly of himself. He did not deserve the name of monster. He could not even begin to fathom the meaning of the word. If anything he was a kitten rather than a lion. Weak. No he was not a monster.

But I was.

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**Oooh....creepy music right? xD I love this, it's so much fun. I'm glad I changed it because now it's easier to think of what might happen rather than if she forgot ugh -facepalms- what was I thinking?! sheesh. Anyways, I hope you guys like this version better and review again with your new input xP  
thankies~**

**-Ai**


	8. Death by Lullaby

**Whee~! Fastest update I've ever done I think. -sniff- I may cry xP Still, I'm finally back on track so I shouldn't leave you guys hanging for too long now that I've figured out a general direction to slowly pull the story. Plus, BIG NEWS! I started my own blog. Or...one for the story nayways. It'll have pictures and summaries and sneak peaks and all that fun stuff ^-^ For now I've only got the basic costumes and an intro done but I'll work on it to make sure everyone stays up to date so check it out- http://drachenfamily (dot) blogspot (dot) com/ replace the dots with periods of course and put it in the search bar to get there. Comment it for improvements, this is my first time doing a blog x3**

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Another long and grueling flight, this time to England. Ahh, England; it brought back memories. I'd actually gone through my season here before, it was definitely a learning experience. Still, nowadays girls didn't have seasons like in the 1800's and so that wasn't exactly the reason for our flight. No, it was strictly business, well, family business anyways. We were tracking down my Aunt. Or actually, she wouldn't be too hard to track at all as long as she hadn't changed much. Recalling memories of my aunt I grinned, shaking my head at the eccentric lady. Oh no. She wouldn't have changed at all.

Humans surrounded my family and I, staring at us curiously as they took in our formal garb. I oculd hear whispers floating around and I gave a small smile. Such foolsihness, the whispering, as if we couldn't hear them right behind them.

"Mommy look at what-" came a child's voice.

"It's not polite to stare Tomas," his mother chided softly though I could practically feel her eyes burning a hole in me. Ha, practice what you preach why don't you.

"You think maybe they're actors or something?" asked someone in the back.

"Maybe, I dunno. They wouldn't be shooting on the plain would they?" came a worried reply.

Instead I tuned them out, focusing my thoughts on how we would split up. My father and I would go after Aunt Mary in London while my brothers traversed the dirtier streets for Uncle Jack. Or just read a paper for the latest rape and stab murder. I doubted Uncle Jack had changed much either. Still, I loved their evil, cruel ways. Always so entertaining. You never knew what sadistic tortures they might come up with for the humans at any given time.

"Should we ask for an autograph?" asked a starstruck teenage girl as she stared at my brothers.

"What for?" was her friend's confused response.

"Well what if they're new actors and this is their first movie. Then when they become famous we can say we knew them first," the first voice answered triumphantly. As if this were the perfect plan and her friend was just a bit slow on the uptake.

"Ohh," she breathed, beginning to picture it now.

I just chuckled under my breath as I examined my brothers in the seats in front of mine. Yes, they were very handsome actually.

Felix was bulky and thick in the fittest terms. On par with Emmett even, one might actually wonder who would a fight between the two. I however had the details, vampire versus us would lose- no doubt. His hair was a black as pitch, cropped short. His muscles rippled beneath the decadent clothing in which he wore as well which had been the founding cause of this whole "actors" nonsense. No one from these times would dress as we did now. Nor could any of them pull it off as well as we did. Dressed oddly as we were in their eyes, no could actually insult the way we fit into them. Of course, we'd come from a time when clothes like these were the norm, worn on a regular basis within the noble court.

Felix looked like a refined noble in his clothes now. Where my emphasis was on the family colors, his were more subtle in their standing. Night colored trousers wrapped aroundhis legs like leather, gold designs playing down the length of his leg on both sides. He'd drawn up his boots as well with their slightly cirved, metal tip. The ruby buttons carved in our crest on the side of them were they fastened. He wore a fitted tunic that contoured to his shapely muscles as a second skin in a deep blood red, the collar buttoned over his neck in gold. Our crest flowed over his chest as well in a large depiction of stunning topaz against the deep red of the cloth. Over the suit he wore a trenchcoat of sorts with the collar drawn up high just over his ears. It was a raven black with intricate golden designs flowing at the edges and a crimson silk interiopr that cast a evil shadow over his face as he sat there broodingly, one hand propping his head up in thought to show his simple silver cast ring he wore on his finger that worked much like my arm brace. All in all, Felix depicted the King he once would have been.

Demetri though, he was like a warhorse. Tall and lean with his hair cut to shoulder length and allowed to play freely, giving him a wild look. His strength was more subtle than Felix's but you could see it brewing just beneath the surface. He likewise acted invert of Felix. Playing up the red with hints of night and gold. His chest was bared in it's sturdy musculature, three buttons trailing his abdomen in gold starting beneath his pecs on his altered form of the tunic. It was a deep red wine color, almost black in itself, that looked gorgeous with the sharp gold lines drawn across the sides. The black ruffled material on each of his sides, from the armpit to the waist, managed not to look girly at all but added to his air of masculinity somehow. There was a brighter, ruby red batwing vest sewn to the front as well, leaving one arm bared from the shoulder while his right arm ended just above his elbow. Part of the material over his shoudler almost looked scaly, like a dragons and I knew that an armored shoulder spike could be drawn from this when he became angry enough. The spikes it would grow were nearly even with the crown of his head I remembered in the times I'd seen it done. It smoothed again to an embroidered cut off sleeve, leaving a few inches of skin before you saw the same, black version, of the arm covering I wore, only ending in the middle of the forearm instead. He also wore ruby fist gloves beneath, tightened around his hands in a matallic armor sort of way, which they were being made of lead and all. There was a gold two inch thick arm band tied to his left, bare, arm whose tassles trailed down a wore simple black trousers tailored to fit his unique shape with two thin belts that really did nothing buckled around his waist; thought I noticed they seemed to be holding his black waist wrap in place so maybe that was there purpose as the cloth billowed around him. His boots came in a ruby shade, ending just over his knee, with gold buttons dancing down the outter sides.

Both of them really though, had downplayed tradition as I had. If we stuck out this much, lord knew the attention my father was garnering from everyone else. Compared to him, we all paled in comparison. Or no, even that was too kind. Sitting beside him, we were pracitcially nonexistent. He wore his title around him like a familiar old cloak, easily used to the gaping attention and respect these people stared at him with as he sat idly in his chair; turning it into a throne despite the simplicity merely by the way he held himself in it. It was impossible to imagine him as anything but powerful. The true King of the Night. Nay. That King of Drachen.

He lounged in his seat casually, as if he owned the entire plane. Which he may as well have the way he had people running back and forth to fetch him things mostly before he even finished the order. That was the thing about my father, he was still such a noble at heart, carrying himself with such regalia that others were just naturally drawn to him, and in turn, to do his bidding. There was no way you could see him on the streets, even in the human clothes of today, and mistake him for anything but a King of the highest order. He put all others in shame witht eh way he commanded attention and respect even from complete and utter strangers. It was impossible to look straight at him and refuse him anything but your complete and undying loyalty to do as he wished. There was something about him, an aura maybe, that was just so rich and engrossing you couldn't help want to please and impress such a striking individual.

Where we as his children favored a balance between the red and gold; my brothers offsetting with some black; my father drew your eyes towards him wether you wanted to look or not. Even the mother from earlier couldn't keep her eyes of of him. Being as handsome as he was too didn't hurt things. In commoner's garb you couldn't help but gawk as he walked past. Well now...it was like he was a strong magnet to the eyes. Even I checked from time to time, looking at him from the corner of my eyes to make sure he was really real and not just a figment of my imagination. No, there was no thought that could ever completely encompass all of my father's attire at this moment. Maybe scraps of it but never put together in this amount of perfection. And this was all off hand too.

No calling the tailor for last minute adjustments. No pre warning about our arrival or departure or destination or anything. This was my dad just pulling something out of the closet blindly and thoriwing it on. Even when he'd come downstairs to join us he simply shrugged as he took us in and said, "I like to be comfortable while travelling." As if they were his casual clothing. Which, for someone who was once the King of the Drachen, just might have been true.

He dragged a ringed hand through his light hair, forcing the armrest up that seperated us as he leaned against me, fanning his hair out as most of it escaped the simple silver clip he'd bound it in originally. From my view point here I could see just how much control he had over the plane now. None of the stewardesses dared to complain that his long legs were thrown over his chair haphazardly, partially blocking the aisleway as he let them dangle, even moving into my seat as well. They took one look at him and couldn't stop. Already he was being spoiled. Though it wasn't hard to imagine why.

His clothes belied to his noteable heritage and they fit him to a T. He wore an gold and brown open tunic to show off a smooth, pale chest with long flowing sleeves that had wide mouths to the point that you could see straght down them and the red interior. It was also covered in crimson designs and jewels at the cuffs, shoulders, and hemlines. He wore a golden belt around his folded tunic to keep it from opening and it held the skirt in place behind him with the same gold and brown on top but red inside. The jewels and designs seemed to flow uninterupted from his tunic down ot the skirt as well as if it might be one pieces instead. He wore soft golden brown pants, tucked into boots that ended just below his knees that he had folded down some to reveal the designing and embellishing going on down there as well. The boots were a chocolate brown with lighter gold accents this time and studded with rubies and garnets too. The tips, in similar style, curved upwards slightly like all of our shoes.

I flared the collar up around his neck, giving him a more "Dracula-esque" look as the red made itself known around his pale face. His sleeves slid back to reveal twin gold bracers along his arms and he had matching rings on either hand for the index and ring appendages. There was a ruby rosary wrapped around his right wrist as well as dangling from one hip. Despite everything, my father was Roman Catholic.

Believe me, the irony is not lost.

Still, it was not hard to imagine my father sitting in a similar position on his own throne back home and commanding all of us in times of battle. Now our numbers numbered six or seven at best. A single unit. But enough to take down the vampires. Slowly, a memory stirred in me. A soft lullaby that I had weaved in battle for our kind while we fought. It soothed our wharriors and allowed them to fight refreshed. I hummed it out at first, my father stirring once as he resettled himself, closing his eyes. My brothers likewise cocked an ear my way to listen. It was such a long time ago that I had sung this. It osunded so nice and soft up until the very last line.

"Somn Somn Meu deget mic drac Dumneavoastra va veni vremea cind mai curand Taie si sparge Meci si zdrobitor Ucideris tot . in timp ce

Pauza Pauza Meu deget mic drac It's apropiat timp acum A crea . ura nauntru care tu vei tragere puterea La spre kill pe ei tot . timp

Treaz treaz Meu deget mic drac . timp is upon noua acum Sf rsit it tot Ceas pe ei a cadea It's timp pentru pe ei la spre Zar!"

The last line was what came harshly, filled with spite. I could even see the humans swaying in time with the music as it lulled them into a false sense of comfort. Just because it was in a language no one understood, they automatically assumed a soft voice meant soft words. When, if translated properly, the song was anything but. Truly, if I were to sing it in English panic would ensue and ruin our, as thus far, peaceful trip. Imagine hearing this while flying a metal deathtrap with four gorgeous people that looked like royalty.

"Sleep Sleep My little devil Your time will come soon Slashing and smashing Fighting and crashing Killing all the while

Rest Rest My little devil It's nearly time now Creating the hate In which you will draw strength To kill them all the time

Awake Awake My little devil The time is upon us now End it all Watch them fall It's time for them all to DIE!"

Which, in truth- is exactly what the lullaby translated into. Don't aks how it came to me, I just liked the way it sounded. So deceptively soft and lulling, but so dangerous at the same time. It brought back old memories, voice thundering as the song whispered over the field. That alone made many of them flee. You wouldn't understand what it was like until you heard it. Soft voices meant to draw you in and entice, growing louder and more intense over the dulcet tones of the lyrics. Moving as a single body as it drew to a close. It was poetry in motion, pure and daunting. I felt a delicious shiver dance up my spine again. Our time was coming again and I knew what side I was on.

We started the song up again, the four of having our own effect on the people in the plane with us. We couldn't help the conspiratorial grins we flashed eachother when our eyes met. These poor stupid people had no idea what they cheering for. Or then again, maybe they did. A subconscious effort to cheer us on to eliminate the predators. Then again, we were so much worse, though it had been ages since anyone even whispered about us in the back of their minds. Even the Volturi heads had still been human during our reigning years.

Eventually though, we lapsed back into silence as I pulled my fingers through my father's hair idly, all of us thinking, considering- plotting.

At last we landed and my family gained quick passage to the front. Where the aisles might have been packed and squashed before, they went out of their way to avoid touching us. We were the "royals" in their eyes, only fit we went first. Plus, something told me frightened them some as well. That untouchable air surrounded us all.

Stepping off the plane, all chatter ceased as heads from all around turned to gawk at us. My father went first, wearing his pride like a personal cloak around him that had people doing double takes, I followed beside him and two steps back, my brothers flanking the both of us, one step behind me. It was perfect harmony as we moved but it was almost reflex to us despite how time hadpassed. This was simply how we walked when together, the hierarchy decided based upon your station. The only reason I outranked my brothers was because I was a female. Apprently, these customs were held firm in every animal order- the women were protected by the men.

Stepping into the cobblstoned streets of London, I'm surprised we didn't cause any major accidents as those wlaking the streets craned their heads to get a better look at us and make sure what they were seeing was real. What a sight it must have been for them. Still, we hadn't come here to be stared at.

"Dad and I will go after Aunt Mary, you guys go for Ucle Jack," I whispered, my lips barely moving as we scanned the streets. "We'll meet at the Auntie's since her place was bigger last I checked," I said and watched them nod before turning away from us, fading out of sight despite their obviously loud clothes. I looped my arm through my dad's once it was offered and we were off to go find London's greatest nightmares of all time.

Bloody Mary and Jack the Ripper.

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**Okay, I admit, this was sort of filler-esque but it had to be done. The next chapter should be up sometime next week though I'm debating between and E or B POV right now. So read and REVIEW and let me know so I can get started! Besides, reviews make me happy and I work harder 3  
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	9. Her Name is Isabella

**I thought I was going to die. I had the chapter all ready to go and stuff, even started on the next, and my computer couldn't jsut crash like normal ones and make me start all over, NOOO. My sister. Dropped it. Down the stairs. Needless to say it wasn't' exactly in any sort of working condition and laptops are not cheap things D; Anywho, I got one now, and here is your rewritten chapter, now if only I could remember how I did 9....Enjoy and review please~**

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I was the last to enter the large open room Aro had provided my family with apart from our sleeping quarters and took in everyone sitting there; feeling the emptiness of the missing Bella before I shook the thought away and concentrated at the task at hand. We were in Volterra, Italy- home of the Volturi. Why? There were rumors of an impending war with an anceint species hungry for revenge of some sort. Details were a bit sketchy and even Carlisle said he'd never heard of them.

"So," I said simply, letting the word hang there to open conversation that I knew my family was bursting at the seams with questions for.

"What's going on Edward," Alice asked frustratedly, "you seem to know more about this than any of us."

Alice had gotten her sight back but whenever she tried to peek into this future there was nothing but blackness. We thought it might involve wolves and that was what was ruining it, but then it could also mean something worse- Death.

"I'm not sure," I answered honsetly, "just that there's something out there, creatures of old that are hunting down vampires one by one." Even I could hear the foreboding in my voice, the stress. The fact that vampires were being hunted so casually made everybody more afraid. It was like we were humans now, believing we were on top of the food chain when there was something stronger there hunting us slowly all the time.

It was...unsettling.

"Does Aro have any thoughts as to what this new threat might be?" Carlisle inquired; ever the practical.

"No," I shook my head, "he's blocking his thoughts very carefully from me so I can't know what he might be considering."

"He's scared," Jasper said and my family turned to gape at him. The Volturi couldn't be scared. They weren't allowed to be scared, they ruled over the entire vampire race with an iron fist. "He might be blocking his thoughts but he can't hide his feelings," Jasper elaborated.

"I wouldn't even really call it fear, just...it's almost like he's given up completely. He's planning something, gathering forces to try and hold this out but there's a part of him that is telling him he can't win. It's like he's in suspense really, just waiting and guessing, preparing what he can to try and hold it off. Then, he's also not completely sure himself. You don't get how old these creatures are," Jasper shook his head. "They're literally ancient, like...Adam and Eve status age," he breathed. "It's just like, this old boogeyman story, but for vampires," he said.

"We have a boogeyman?" Emmett asked curiously, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"No, not boogeyman but.." Jasper searched his mind for the right way to phrase it. Apparently, when he was still with Maria there were older vampires that would tell old stories about a beast that stalked the land long before vampires did. I wasn't sure if he was talking out loud or I hearing his thoughts as he tried his best to piece together what he'd heard.

"They were these horrible monsters, divided into clans and stuff, always battling, always at war. Some of the older vampires say that it was their battles that broke the land into pieces. You know like, Pangea and then how it got smaller and smaller," he tried to explain.

Carlile and Esme gave eachother worried looks before Esme semed to speak aloud without realizing it. "That's impossible, no creature has that amount of power, even vampire battles now don't split much more than a few small mountains and that's in a large group. Even the ones with powers over earth couldn't do that much damage."

"That's what I'm trying to say," Jasper broke in, pacing franctically now as he dragged a hand through his hair. "They weren't vampires, they were exponentially worse. Their newborns make the Volturi guard look like insects," he said. "Of course that could be them being dramatic but theoretically speaking, with that sort of strength, hunting us down would be childsplay. I think that's what has the Volturi scrambling around, scouring the world for every one of us. Haven't you noticed how full the castle is becoming. More and more vampires are being brought in every day. They're trying to save who they can before it gets worse."

"Why would they wait so long?" Rosalie asked coldly, "if they're so old and powerful why would they wait so long to attack. What's so special now."

"The Consul," Carlisle spoke unthinkingly and attention shifted to him as he looked at us all.

"Well, when I was here with the Volturi I always heard whispered stories about an older power before them. They called them the Consul, a group of extremely powerful beings that some said might have been the ones that created the world in the first place."

"There's more than one God?" Emmett asked, trying to take it seriously but failing.

"So to speak," Carlisle nodded. "Though they weren't exactly as kind and forgiving as the humans think. This Consul, they controlled the world, any and all races fell beneath their rule and if you broke them you were killed or exiled."

"Exiled where?" Rosalie asked, again with dry disbeliving. "If they controlled the world what could they do?"

"The Void," Alice answered, her eyes glassy and filmed over as if she was in a vision. Her voice wasn't hers though, it was dark and mencaing and made my skin crawl as we listened.

"There is more than one world here you ignorant fool," non-Alice sneered at Rosalie who sat in shock. "The Void is simply that, a dark space in the universe where nothing at all exists, a chunk of matter missing from the world. It is nothingness."

"Who are you," Carlisle asked staring wide eyes at Alice as her mouth moved.

"Always questions," the voice sighed. "The Consul has no time for questions, only answers. Inquiries are tiring and lead only to more. Time here is short, flowing so quickly. Damage to the world was great during those times and it is crumbling faster as the humans attack it. Your blonde one is right," non-Alice spoke, pointing at Jasper who only stared in shock. "The creatures after you are not vampires, they are ancestors who should have been wiped out while the chance was there. Now they hunger for revenge and are coming for it. None of the others remain and if they do they have hidden themselves very well. Find them and you might survive yet little offspring. The shifters have turned, they share their hate for vampires with the beasts, but the Fae despise both and will lend help if you promise safety. The years have left them wary of your kind but a few might help yet if you can find them."

"Wait, Fae, shapeshifters, sides. What are you talking about?" Carlisle. asked, "how bad is this thing, or, the things coming?"

Alice's empty gaze turned to him and it was like staring into the deepest pits of hell.

"The void split Fantasy to reality Earth to air All will crumble"

Well, what the hell was that supposed to mean? Before we could ask, Alice cried out and was falling forward before Jasper caught her, hooking his arm around her waist and cradling her softly against his hard body. A pang shot through me but I ignored it. There were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Okay," Emmett spoke up, "that was not helpful."

"What happened?" Alice asked weakly, staring around the room fearfully.

"Alice," Jasper asked concernedly, "don't you remember?"

"No," she shook her head, "I just, I was trying to see again and suddenly, this super bright light blinded me and it was like, I died or something. Not like I am now, but, everything was black, I couldn't feel a thing. It reminded me of Alec's gift, but worse. It's not that you know you can't feel anything, it's just, one second you're in your body alive, and the next, nothing. No awareness, no conscious. I was just, gone. She shuddered a moment and we all watched her before Rosalie broke in, pondering the meaning of the words.

"So anyone want to guess what Alice, I mean," she corrected herself quickly, "that THING said to us."

"Well obviously the Void they're talking about is that place you mentioned earlier where they banished people and stuff," Emmett said insightfully for once.

"Wait, what's going. What did I say?" Alice asked, confused for once as she looked around the room at all of us.

"Well, there was some explaining but at the end, just before whatever it was that took you over left you and it said: The void split, fantasy to reality, earth to air, all will crumble," Carlisle filled her in briefly before we all fell silent to think. Suddenly, Alice stiffened and Jasper turned towards the door as we followed suit, becoming aware of someone's arrival.

"The void will be opened and all the world's mythical creatures like centaurs, nymphs, harpies, dragons, and everything else, will become real. The earth will disappear with the war as things go into chaos and eventually everything will fall," a voice said from the shadows. "That's what it meant."

"How did you-" Carlisle began as Marcus stepped out of the shadows. There was a collecitve and dramatic, if uneeded, draw of breath around the room as he looked at us.

"These creatures coming, I know one of them," he said softly, looking at us still until despair was almost palapable in the room. "And I did know another."

"What do you mean did?" Carlisle pried a little, "so they can be killed?" he asked.

At this, Marcus seemed to collapse, folding within himself as he shook. Jasper took on a pained expression as he clung on to Alice. I took this to mean what Marcus was feeling was no light matter.

"Yes," he said in a gasp, "but only at the hands of the one they love."

"Wait, you were in love with one of them?!" Rosalie shouted, looking at him accusingly.

"Oh yes," he nodded, "very much so. We were together for years. She had been turned into a vampire but now I know it was only a ruse and that she'd never really changed from her old life."

"At least you killed her in the end," Rose nodded and suddenly, the usually lifeless, apathetic Marcus vanished and he was a snarling beast who had her by the throat with eyes that shone vibrant ruby at last- and he was ready to kill.

"Let go of her!" Emmett roared but Carlisle, Jasper, and I held him back.

"Take that back right now you insolent bitch," he snarled at her, her smug grin gone and replaced with absolute fear for once. "There is not a day in my existence that I don't wish she was still here or that I could have taken her place. That, had I known she'd given me such power, I wouldn't have reacted so bad. She explained later, but it was too late. We loved eachother more than anything. I would have left the Volturi for her!" he shouted, stunning us into silence.

Everyone knew, even the mates themselves that with Caius and Aro, if it came down to them and the Volturi, they would be the first to go.

"If," Esme broke in in her gentle mothering way, "if you don't mind my prying, who was it that explained this to you? You said you knew one, and the other is dead," she prodded. "I'm assuming your mate was the one who died.." she trailed.

At this, I was reeling back. It seemed as if we'd all forgotten about the other one he'd mentioned while listening to his story and now we were all held in rapt attention. Even Emmett had quieted in our hold.

Marcus released Rose and she dropped to the floor with a thud before Emmett was at her side.

"Yes," he breathed. "Actually, I believe I know of more but as of now that is still just speculation," he said. "Still, the one I know of is enough," he said chillingly. "She is a direct descandent of the Drachen family, the original vampires," he emphasized and at our confused expressions, elaborated. "They were the ones that were born vampires, they never spent a single second as anything less than all powerful. The powers they had back then make us look like ant droppings," he shook. "You see, they had the power to turn humans into vampires but it was never done, they fed on them, their very life force to gain power. What we are now, is a very watered down solution of their own powers. The speed, strength, everything, is but a small fraction of the powers they posses," he said.

"How is that- How is that even possible?" Carlisele asked worriedly, his face etched with concern. We vampires had prided ourselves at being the secret masters on top of the food chain and now it seemed as if there were others, even more secret and powerful than us, several steps ahead of us on said ladder.

"Who is she?" Rosalie asked, cutting to the chase.

"Yes do share, Marcus," came an amused voice from the shadow of the door. We'd all been so wrapped up in the conversation that we'd failed to notice our new guests.

"You seem to know much more about this than you let on," Caius said giddily, looking at his brother with malice as he and Aro showed themselves.

"Brothers," Marcus said, spinning to face them. "I'm sorry, I meant to share, but it wasn't until lately that I realized jut how much things have escalated." Marcus said sadly, shaking his head.

"How do you mean?" Aro voiced for all of us, cocking his head to the side curiously. "How could this have barely caught your attention now?"

"What?" Caius sneered, "you just forgot about the existence of the only creatures on the planet that could kill us? Ha!"

"That's enough brother," Aro sighed, holding his up to him. "Please, let Marcus explain himself. I myself want to know how this imformation escaped me while searching your mind," he murmured.

"I didn't forget, could never forget," Marcus sighed, sinking into one fo the couches as we all readjuted ourselves. Marcus looked so tired again, just sinking in within himself and folding. Like a crippled old man with nothing left to lose. With a shudder I realized that was how I must have looked to my own family, though maybe not as abd just yet.

"It's just, she said there were so few left. Then all those rules, I couldn't imagine how we'd ever have to worry about them," he sighed. "Allow me to explain from the beginning," he said, looking around the room, landing on me last and I felt a shiver run up my spine at the look he gave me.

"Didyme and I were planning on leaving the Volturi together to escape all of this violence and live on our own. Someone had come to visit her though, an old old friend," he laughed mirthelessly, "and Didyme became very afraid. You see, vampires, and the Drachen clan from which we are descended from, were actually sworn enemies. We would never have existed if not for them being destroyed by the Consul and their powers divided. The special vampires now with powers are but samples of their old powers. Anyways," he said, going back to his story, "because we were supposed to be enemies, Didyme was afraid for my life and went into a frenzy as she attacked the visitor. But her guest, she was powerful. A direct descendant from the first of the Drachen line; only her father could hope to perish her and so she flung Didyme away who then came after me, instincts taking over to kill me rather than an ally. I batted her away but it was too late as the girl called out and I snapped her neck like a toothpick," he sobbed.

"Wait if they're so all powerful, how did that happen?" Rosalie asked, confused.

"A part of her I suppose, did not want to kill me and so at the last moment I was told she gave up her immortality to save me. If I had let her strike I would have felt nothing," he cried. "She would have been as strong as a kitten!" he shouted, "and I killed her because she never told me who she was. She never told me WHAT she was and she died right there!"

Jasper tried in vain to soothe the crazed man and after a few minutes he succeded partially as Marcus began to rock back and forth.

"They're coming now though, they want their revenge on us. We'll be annihilated, wiped out as easily as I killed Didi. Too strong, too angry, we don't stand a chance. She is already gathering the remnants of her clan to fight. Didi was rare, once in an extremely long lifetime anamoly. The others, they thirst for death, bathe in it, LIVE for the ruins. She warned me before that our time would come and it is coming soon now. I know it," he trembled.

"How, how do you know all of this? If she hates vampires so much why didn't she kill you?" I couldn't help but ask now, breaking the silence of the room.

"She explained, she told me everything," Marcus shuddered, "because she wanted me to suffer the knowledge of all of this. Of knowing our extinction would come for us. For me to live in fear, for me to see it when it was coming. To recognize it when they began to rise again and let you all know too."

"And how do you know now is the time?" Aro prodded.

"Becasue she was here!" Marcus leapt up, waving his arms. He seemed to be losing his grip on reality. "As sure as I stand here before you today, she stood in our halls last night! I know her smell, will never forget that innocent scent masking the blood of centuries seeped into her. And they," he jabbed his finger at us, "they know her too! They smell of her just as our halls do! And you," he spat, appearing before me as he stabbed me in the chest with his finger. "You reek of her scent, saturated in it. Since you first walked in here I knew she was coming. You are the warning she sends to us as our own demise," he growled as Emmett dragged him away.

"Who is she?!" I asked angrily. "What makes you think it's us she's warning you with? Assuming you're not completely off your rocker yet Marcus."

A face. HER face, flashed in his mind and I got a flicker of it, of my powers returning before it went out.

He went limp in my brother's hold, murmuring so softly that even I had to strain to listen.

"I told you I had suspicions of the others. She came for her brothers hiding among us. Felix and Demetri are gone," he laughed, and I saw a flicker of shock cross Aro and Caius's face as my own family tried to digest this imformation while also trying to figure out who he could be smelling on us."

He seemed to sway from side to side in Emmett's hold as he laughed maniacally.

"If it's those two why did they not kill us sooner?" Caius mocked, still not very worried as his brother lost his mind.

"Against the rules," he chirped, "everyone must follow the rules. Leave it to her to her to find a loophole. Leave her to lead the bloodbath. She's found a reason to fight, to destroy. Such a smart one, always so innocent looking but I checked. Her body is stained with the blood of victims, she drowns in such sins so that the devil himself may fear her. What a name too, no one would suspect her until she ripped out their hearts," he sang bitterly. "But she comes and she hunts and they have given her a reason," he said, pointing an arm at my family again as Aro's head turned to look at us.

"Who is it you think we gave a reason to kill us?" Esme asked, trembling in Carlisle's arms.

"No, just him," Marcus said, looking up with his eyes pitch black as well, hand shaking as it singled me out. "Just sweet little Edward's fault. You broke her heart and she finds herself steeped in shame. Death is redemption," Marcus giggled. "She will redeem herself with your blood."

"Who?!" I finally shouted, snarling at him and unable to understand who he could mean.

He was doing that creepy laughter slash giggling thing as his eyes trained on me and I realized this man was not Marcus at all but some outside force much more sinister than the one who had possesed Alice. I found myself unable to look away as he finally let the name slip past his lips and left it to hang in the air between us as much of an accusation as anything.

"You know her as Isabella."

* * *

**So yeah, I think my old ending was better but I couldn't remember it all and I had to wing it. Hope you like it, review it even if you didn't. I'll try harder to get the next chapter up soon. My sister has learned her lesson about touching my computer...**


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